622 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



peasants passing through the woods were occasionally trampled to 

 death by startled bison, and hunts were undertaken by the nobles in 

 order to reduce the uumbers of the animals. In spite of this local 

 abundance, it is probable that about this time the bison was in a great 

 measure restricted to Lithuania, aud although so late as 1555 one was 

 killed in Prussia, it is almost certain that this was merely a straggler 

 from the main herd. In 1752 a grand hunt was organized by the Po- 

 lish King Augustus III, and in one day sixty bison were killed, besides 

 a considerable quantity of other large game, the Queen, who partici- 

 pated, killing twenty bison, and finding time in the intervals of sport 

 to do some light reading. This achievement was deemed worthy of 

 commemoration by a monument, although the manner iu which the 

 battue was conducted renders the performance less remarkable than 

 might appear at first sight. Two huge, strongly built, converging 

 fences were erected, and just by the exit, at the apex of the gigantic V 

 thus formed, was a platform on which the royal party sat at ease and 

 shot the game as it emerged from the trap into which it had been 

 driven by a small army of beaters. For some time after the above 

 event little seems to have been recorded concerning the zubr, so that 

 Desmarest, writing in 1822, says that if any remain in Lithuania they 

 must be very few in number.* There were, however, over five hundred 

 bison in Lithuania at that time, for in 1820 there was that number, this 

 being a considerable increase since 1815, when there was estimated to 

 be only three hundred. About this time active measures must have 

 been taken for the protection of the Lithuanian herds, for in 1830 

 "owing to the better enforcement of the laws" it comprised seven hun- 

 dred individuals. In 1831 a local revolt occurred, the game laws were 

 set at naught, and the number of bisou reduced to six hundred and 

 thirty-seven. Order having been restored the bison began to recuper- 

 ate, and according to the official enumeration at the end of each dec- 

 ade, there were iu 1840, seven hundred and eighty, in 1850, one thou- 

 sand three hundred and ninety, and in 1860, seventeen hundred. 

 Political troubles, however, were the bane of the bison, and just as 

 the prosperity of the Lithuanian herd seemed assured, the Polish upris- 

 ing of 1803 took place; many bands of insurgents sought refuge in the 

 forests; the bison were left to take care of themselves; and were so' rap- 

 idly killed off, that the next official count showed only eight hundred 

 and forty-seven. For a short time after peace was restored, the herd 

 increased to a slight extent, but later on it began to decrease, the enu- 

 meration of 1880 showing but six hundred, a. number that has since 

 been lessened, the herd being still upon the wane. The cause of this 

 decrease is not quite apparent, and although it has been ascribed to in- 

 breeding, it would seem as if some other reason, must besought for, 

 since the wild cattle at Chillingham, England, are still extant, although 



*Dictionairo Univcrsellfl cl'Histoire Naturelle. 



