474 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



ruthlessly slaughtered in enormous numbers for a 

 slight profit, and until entirely too late left utterly 

 unprotected by law. The only traces of the once 

 innumerable herds of Buffaloes are to be seen in the 

 blanched bones dispersed in the vast solitudes of 

 the great plains of the West. The result of the 

 close investigation of William T. Hornaday gives 

 the number of the survivors on January i, 1889, as 

 eight hundred and thirty-five, inclusive of the two 

 hundred then living in Yellowstone Park under the 

 protection of the government. This extermination 

 of the Bisons has in the main been accomplished 

 since the beginning of the seventies, and principally 

 through the agency of the railways traversing the 

 far West. Over fifty thousand Indians whose sub- 

 sistence, like that of their ancestors, was either 

 entirely or partly dependent on the existence of the 

 Buffaloes, are exposed to privations and the danger 

 of starvation if the government of the United States 

 does not always provide for their maintenance in 

 due time. 

 Former Range of When the first Europeans settled in 



the American North America the range of the 

 Bison. Bison extended nearly from the 



Atlantic coast westward to the boundaries of Ne- 

 vada and Oregon, southward to the twenty-fifth 

 parallel and to the northwest to about the sixty-fifth 

 parallel of north latitude, comprising woodland as 

 well as prairie country. 



If there had been laws in any way judicious and 

 timely regulating the hunting of the animal, there 

 might have been shot annually about half a million 

 of young bulls, the product of the carcasses of which 

 would have yielded a profit of about two million 

 five hundred thousand dollars, and the enormous 

 herds would not have been perceptibly decreased; 

 now the most strenuous efforts are necessary to pre- 

 serve the few hundred surviving animals. 



From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that 

 the following description deals with the life and 

 habits of creatures which populated the wilderness 

 of North America in enormous herds about twenty 

 or more years ago but now are practically extinct. 



Description of The American Bison or Buffalo, 



the American {Bos americanus) occupies the same 

 Bison. relative position in regard to the 



North American animals, that the European Bison 

 does to the various European species — that of the 

 giant of all terrestial mammals of its native country. 

 The bull measures from nine to ten feet in length, 

 exclusive of the tail, which is twenty inches long, or, 

 including the hair-tuft, twenty-six inches; the height 

 at the withers varies from five feet eight inches to 

 six feet four inches; the weight ranges between one 

 thousand two hundred and two thousand pounds. 

 The cows are always considerably smaller than the 

 bulls. The differences between the American and 

 European Bison are greater than those between any 

 other so closely allied species of Oxen. The head 

 of the American Bison is very large — proportionately 

 much larger — has a broader brow, is clumsier and 

 heavier than that of its European relative; the nose 

 is more strongly arched and the ears longer. The 

 dull eyes are of moderate size and a dark brown 

 color — the whites having a vascular, reddish, in- 

 flamed appearance. The short, deep, narrow neck 

 ascends abruptly to the shapelessly high withers; 

 the legs are comparatively short and very slender. 

 The horns curve backward, outward and upward and 

 the tips do not materially converge. The hair re- 

 sembles that of the European Bison. The head, 



neck, shoulders, fore-parts of body and upper parts 

 of the fore-legs, the fore-parts of the hams and the 

 extremity of the muzzle are clothed with long hair; 

 the withers and shoulders have a large mass of 

 mane-like fur; the chin and throat show an append- 

 age of beard-like hair; the forehead and back of the 

 head are covered with curly, matted hair and all the 

 other parts of the body are clothed with short, thick 

 hair. In winter the hair grows to a considerable 

 length; in the beginning of spring the winter fur is 

 shed in large locks. As a result of this shedding, 

 the color of the beast is modified. That of the new 

 coat is a uniform grayish-brown, deepening into 

 black-brown in the mane, which covers the top part 

 of the head, forehead, neck and the under surface 

 of the throat. The horns and hoofs, as well as the 

 naked muzzle, are of a lustrous black hue. 

 Range and Habits In contradistinction to the European 



of American Bison, which is invariably a forest- 

 Bisons. dweller, the Buffalo must, at least 



since its range has been restricted by advancing civ- 

 ilization, be regarded as an animal peculiar to the im- 

 mense western plains of North America. There it 

 lived gregariously, though the herds were not or- 

 ganized in compact form but were somewhat loosely 

 divided into numerous, smaller groups. A plain 

 overgrown with succulent herbage, if viewed from 

 a distance, may seem to be literally packed with 

 Buffaloes, but on a nearer view one soon sees how 

 the apparently compact mass resolves itself into 

 numerous smaller herds of varying size; and each of 

 these, though but a few hundred paces distant from 

 the other, possesses a leader of its own and pre- 

 serves, as it were, its right of independent action. 



The Bisons used to undertake annual migrations 

 with greater or less regularity. Beginning in July, 

 they moved southward; at the advent of spring they 

 returned to the north, distributed into smaller troops 

 or herds. Evidences of these migrating hosts could 

 be seen even when the Buffaloes themselves could 

 not be perceived; for packs of lean Wolves followed 

 in their wake upon the surface of the earth while 

 flocks of Vultures, Eagles and Buzzards followed them 

 in the air, the former as well as the latter being will 

 assured of prey. Wherever the Buffaloes had taken 

 up a permanent abode, they went back and forth 

 over the same paths with great regularity, especially 

 in going from their abundant pasturage to the rivers, 

 which they frequented to drink or to take cooling 

 baths, and on these journeys they wore the roads, 

 known in the language of the prairie frontiersman, as 

 "Buffalo-trails." These Buffalo-trails generally ran 

 in absolutely direct lines hundreds in number, par- 

 allel to one another and crossing rivers at points con- 

 venient for entering and leaving the water. They 

 closely resembled the paths trodden clown and regu- 

 larly frequented by our domestic Cattle, wherever 

 they unrestrainedly graze in large numbers in forests 

 and pastures. 

 European Travel- In 1S5 1 Moellhausen saw hundreds 



ers and the of thousands of Bisons in the prairies 

 Buffalo. to t ] le west f t he Missouri; in 1S58 



Froebel traveled with a train of wagons from Mis- 

 souri to Mexico and was surrounded by herds of 

 Buffaloes for eight days. As Hepworth Dixon de- 

 scribes it: "in bands, in masses, in hosts, the shaggy, 

 black creatures thunder along in front of us, some- 

 times from north to south, sometimes from south to 

 north; for forty consecutive hours we had them in 

 sight, thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands 

 upon tens of thousands, an innumerable mass of un- 



