262 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



made under stress of weather or famine, or both ? In other 

 words, Was the Buffalo truly migratory ? 



To this question Catlin gives an emphatic "No." 



"These animals [he writes^*] are, truly speaking, gregarious 

 but not migratory. They graze in immense and almost in- 

 credible numbers at times, and roam about and over vast tracts 

 of country, from East to West, and from West to East, as often 

 as from North to South." 



There is, furthermore, abundant proof that the herds 

 were found summer and winter over most of the animal's 

 natural range. This is all the evidence I can find for the non- 

 migratory theory. 



On the other hand, all records, even those of Catlin, refer 

 to the coming and going of the Buffalo, not perfectly regular, 

 but quite seasonal, while most records speak especially of sum- 

 mer and winter ranges, as regions where herds were to be found 

 at set times. 



Colonel Dodge tells ^'' of a herd estimated at 4,000,000 that 

 he saw on the Arkansas in May, 1871, moving northward. At 

 Beaver Creek, 100 miles south of Glendive, Jas. McNaney 

 says^'' that the Buffalo began to arrive from the north in the 

 middle of October, 1882; that about the first of December an 

 immense herd came; that by Christmas all had gone south- 

 ward; but that a few days later another great herd came from 

 the north and followed the rest. 



The half-breeds and old hunters along the Red River have 

 often told me of the northward coming of the Buffalo in spring, 

 and of their southward migration in the fall. 



Hornaday, after a very full investigation of the subject, 

 writes:" 



"It was a fixed habit with the great Buffalo herds to move 

 southward from 200 to 400 miles at the approach of the winter. 



5jC rjC r^ 5j^ Jji ?jC ?{> 



At the approach of winter the whole great system of 

 herds which range from the Peace River to the Indian Terri- 



=' N. Am. Ind., 1866, Vol. I, p. 248. ""^ Plains of Gt. West, p. 120, ei seq. 



^ Homaday's Ext. Am. Bison, 18S9, p. 421. " Ext. Am. Bison, 1889, p. 420. 



