280 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



"Sometimes when I now lasso a calf of those in domestica- 

 tion and attempt to lead it away, the mother will quickly place 

 herself in front of her baby and thrust a horn under and often 

 through the loop of the rope, and hold the horse and rider 

 perfectly solid, while, if the rope is slackened, she in some 

 instances will free the calf entirely." 



Thus we have seen that the mother, and all the possible 

 fathers and uncles, are ready to do their duty in protecting the 

 calf. Now comes Buffalo Jones to attest that the aunts also 

 are quick to respond, so that the ideal of family feeling is com- 

 plete in the Buffalo, thus setting him in high and honourable 

 contrast to most other polygamous animals; offering, indeed, 

 some refutation to the dictum that such a marriage arrange- 

 ment is a foredoomed failure. 



" Often [says Colonel Jones ^"J have I so crippled a calf that 

 it was impossible for it to follow the herd, and its pitiful bleating 

 would hold the family until I could kill all desired. Should 

 the calf be wounded in the fore or hind parts, the old cow 

 would actually support the parts so crippled, and it would walk 

 away on the normal parts by such aid." 



Once the calf is strong on its feet, and that means when 

 three or four days old, its life is with the herd, and it is effectu- 

 ally guarded. Ordinarily, when the old ones lie down for the 

 night, they may be scattered, but the near appearance of a 

 Gray-wolf is enough to make them rearrange their places, con- 

 densing their band — the bulls, as a matter of course, now taking 

 the outside. 



"In pursuing a large herd of Buffaloes [says Catlin*°], at 

 the season when their calves are but a few weeks old, I have 

 often been exceedingly amused with the curious mancEuvres 

 of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering confusion of 

 a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these 

 animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their 

 dams; and being left behind by the throng, and the swift 

 passing hunters, they endeavour to secrete themselves, when 

 they are exceedingly put to it on a level prairie, where nought 



'^ Ibid., 235. «" N. A. Indians, 1866, Vol. I, p. 255. 



