NOTES ON THE CENSUS. 



The Canadian Bison Herd.— The most important 

 event of 1907 in the life history of the American Bison 

 was the action of the Canadian Government in pur- 

 chasing the entire Pablo-Allard herd of six hundred 

 and twenty-eight animals, and transporting 398 of them 

 to Elk Island Park, Canada. Of the 240 Bison still 

 remaining on the Flathead range, all save 10 head belong 

 to Canada, and will be removed during 1908. No 

 enumeration of the sexes and the calves remaining in 

 Montana has ever been made, and the division of the herd 

 of 240 head into males, females and calves, as shown in 

 this census, has been made by the rules of proportion, 

 using the known quantities in the 398 head already taken 

 to Canada, and reported upon by Howard Douglas. 



Inasmuch as it was impossible to induce the United 

 States Government to purchase the Pablo-Allard herd, 

 and forever maintain it on the Flathead Reservation, the 

 next best thing was that it should pass into the hands of 

 the Canadian Government, and be located on the upper 

 half of the former range of the species. In view of the 

 breaking up of the Flathead Indian Reservation, and its 

 opening to settlement, it was no longer possible for Mr. 

 Pablo to maintain his herd, either there or elsewhere. 



The Canadian Government deserves to be sincerely 

 congratulated upon its wisdom, its foresight and its 

 genuine enterprise in providing $157,000 for the purchase 

 of the Pablo herd, in addition to the cost of transporting 

 the animals, and fencing Elk Island Park. It is for 

 the Canadians to write the full history of this important 

 transaction, and record the names of the men who are 

 entitled to the credit for the grand coup by which Canada 

 secured for her people the finest herd of American Bison 

 in the world. The friends of the Bison may indeed be 

 thankful that the great northwestern herd is not to be 

 scattered to the ends of the earth, and finally disappear in 

 the unstable hands of private individuals. 



The Cattalo. — Every owner of a valuable herd of 

 pure-blood Bison who feels inclined to experiment in 

 the production of cattaloes, or crosses between the Bison 



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