Buffalo 281 



can be seen but the short grass of six or eight inches in height, 

 save an occasional bunch of wild sage a few inches higher, to 

 which the poor, affrighted things will run, and dropping on 

 their knees, will push their noses under it, and into the grass, 

 where they will stand for hours with their eyes shut, imagining 

 themselves securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite 

 straight upon their hind feet and can easily be seen at several 

 miles' distance. It is a familiar amusement for us, accustomed 

 to these scenes, to retreat back over the ground where we have 

 just escorted the herd, and approach these little trembling 

 things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with their 

 noses pushed under the grass, and their eyes strained upon 

 us, as we dismount from our horses and are passing around 

 them. From this fixed position they are sure not to move, until 

 hands are laid upon them, and then for the shins of a novice we 

 can extend our sympathy; or if he can preserve the skin on his 

 bones from the furious butting of its head, we know how to 

 congratulate him on his signal success and good luck. In 

 these desperate struggles for a moment the little thing is con- 

 quered, and makes no further resistance. And I have often, 

 in concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my 

 hands over the eyes of the calf, and breathed a few strong 

 breaths into its nostrils; after which I have, with my hunting 

 companions, rode several miles into our encampment, with 

 the little prisoner busily following the heels of my horse the 

 whole way, as closely and affectionately as its instinct would 

 attach it to the company of its dam." 



Alex. Henry mentions expressly °^ that the mothers come 

 back in search of their young after the hunt is over. 



In the early spring the life of the herds is pleasant. 

 Weather is bright and warm; insect pests are unknown. 

 Before the snow is quite gone, the crocus or sandflower is green- 

 ing the plains again, and in a week changing their colour with 

 its teeming bloom; a hundred others follow in quick succession 

 with their rich and succulent growth. The Buffalo grow 



" Loc. cit., p. 177. 



