112 



THE EXTINCTION OF ANIMALS 



meat and used the warm skins for tents and for many pur- 

 poses ; but as the country was settled up by the white 

 people, the bison gradually disappeared and at the time of 

 the building of the great railroads the end came, the bison 

 being represented to-day by a few small herds. 



Fig. 95. — The Bison. 



All the large Mammalia are threatened with extermina- 

 tion. At the present time there is a revival in all whaling 

 industries, but it is merely the result of several years of in- 

 activity, giving the whale an opportunity to increase. Now 

 steam whalers are superseding the old-fashioned ships, and 

 before another century rolls around the right whale will be 

 so rare that whaling will be given up again ; its doom is 

 certain : so large, conspicuous, and valuable an animal can- 

 not last very long, especially when several fleets of vessels 

 are scouring the seas for it. 



When the Spaniards first visited California in 1542 they 

 found herds of elk and antelope everywhere along shore ; 

 now there is hardly an elk to be found on the coast, and 



