Buffalo 



283 



where, indeed, he could smell the refreshment that he needed; 

 but it was effectively barricaded from him. Again he rubbed 

 and leaned against his mother's neck in mute appeal; again she 

 mutely said, "Don't bother me," and flung him afar with a 

 swing of her massive woolly jowl. 



Then did that small calf rise to the emergency in a way 

 that filled me with glee; for, standing just beyond the sweep of 

 mother's impatient horns, he backed and charged again and 

 again, butting and pounding, with his tiny budding "nubbins" 

 of horns, against her flank — her only tender spot — until she could 

 stand it no longer and leaped to her feet. Now, of course, the 

 object he had in view was easily within 

 his reach; and springing into place, but 

 well forward out of reach of her first im- 

 patient but half-hearted kick, he tugged 

 away. The mother's love was stirred in 

 response, and her forgiveness of him was 

 complete — it arrived, indeed, before his 

 punishment, so that it came not at all. 



Another glimpse of the family life 

 (or at least, the Indian opinion of it) is 

 afforded by the following from the pen 

 of C. E. Denny. Referring to the rare 

 and beautiful "Beaver robe" already 

 mentioned, he says:*^ 



"The robe was nearly always of a cow, very fine and very 

 light. Many explanations were given by the hunters for this 

 peculiar coat, and the right one was no doubt that given by 

 Montana Indians — that it was caused by the constant licking 

 of many animals in the herd, to which some motherless calf 

 belonged, it having become the pet of the band, the animals 

 testifying their liking in that manner." 





Fig. io6 — Cattalo yearling in herd of 

 Buffalo Jones. 



(Courtesy of the United States National 



Museum.) 



BIRDS 



In all this pastoral scene, there is a flock of small black cow- 

 birds, "cowbirds" or "buffalo-birds" they are called. They 

 haunt the Buffalo as negroes do a Mississippi raft-house, 



" Forest and Stream, May 8, 1897, P- 3^2. 



