86 Oxen 



retreat. If the train happened not to be in its path, it crossed the track 

 and stopped, satisfied. If the train was in the way, each individual bison 

 went at it with the desperation of despair, plunging against or between 

 locomotives and cars just as the blind madness happened to take them. 

 Numbers were killed, but numbers still pressed on, only to stop and stare 

 as soon as the obstacle was passed." 



Although when direct and level lines of transit were practicable these 

 were preferred, bison displayed remarkable activity and agility for animals 

 ot their size in descending and ascending the steep bluffs bordering many 

 of the prairie rivers ; and even now the gorges made by the herds in 

 breaking down the banks are still visible as mementoes of a vanished race. 

 Neither would broad and rapid rivers whose currents were encumbered 

 by masses of ice check the course of the host ; such transits were, how- 

 ever, frequently accompanied by heavy losses of life, more especially when 

 numbers of animals crowded upon the ice. Arrant stupidity, as in the 

 instance above cited, seems indeed to have been one of the most marked 

 traits in the life-history of the bison. 



In reality, however, timidity may account for much of this apparent 

 stupidity, although in defence of their young both sexes displayed un- 

 daunted courage. And many anecdotes have been told of the devotion of the 

 cows to their offspring when threatened by imminent peril. "The bulls," 

 writes Mr. Herrick, "invariably range themselves about the circumference 

 of the herd, while the cows and calves remain in the centre. The larger 

 herds when feeding break up into smaller groups, which preserve the 

 same arrangement in obedience to instinct. It appears that the notion, 

 long prevalent, that certain old bulls stand as sentries upon the outskirts 

 of the herds is fallacious, most observers claiming that it is the females, 

 with anxiety quickened by the maternal instinct, which are usually the 

 first to perceive danger. ... In some cases it is the males upon whom 

 the office of protection devolves, especially in case of attack by wolves. 



