FIRES 



270 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



WOLVES Every Buffalo band was followed by Wolves that picked 



off the young, the weak, and the wounded, and thus kept the 

 herds up to a good physical standard. But the numbers killed 

 by Wolves was not great. 



PRAIRIE Prairie fires not only destroyed the food of the Buffalo, but 



were the source of direct danger to the animal, as we realize in 

 reading this extract from Henry's "Journal":" 



"November 25, 1804. Plains burned in every direction 

 and blind Buffalo seen every moment wandering about. The 

 poor beasts have all the hair singed off; even the skin in many 

 places is shrivelled up and terribly burned, and their eyes are 

 swollen and closed fast. It was really pitiful to see them stag- 

 gering about, sometimes running afoul of a large stone, and 

 other times tumbling down hill and falling into creeks, not yet 

 frozen over. In one spot we found a whole herd lying dead. 

 The fire having passed only yesterday, these animals were still 

 good and fresh, and many of them exceedingly fat. Our road 

 was the summit of the Hair Hills [Pembina Mt.], where the 

 open ground is uneven and intercepted by many small creeks 

 running eastward. The country is stony and barren. At sun- 

 set we arrived at the Indian camp, having made an extraordi- 

 nary day's ride, and seen an incredible number of dead and 

 dying, blind, lame, singed, and roasted Buffalo. The fire 

 raged all night toward the S. W." 



Hind, in 1859, made similar observations:^^ 

 " Blind Buffalo [he says] are frequently found accompany- 

 ing herds, and sometimes they are met with alone. Their eyes 

 have been destroyed by prairie fires; but their quickened sense 

 of hearing, and smell, and their increased alertness enable 

 them to guard against danger, and makes it more difficult to 

 approach them in quiet weather than those possessing sight. 

 The hunters think that blind Buffalo frequently give the alarm 

 when they are stealthily approaching a herd in an undulating 

 country. When galloping over stony ground, blind Buffalo 



"A. Henry's Journal, p. 253. 



■*' Ass. & Sask. Expl. Exped., 1859, p. 107. 



