88 



THE AMKRICAX MCSEVM JOdiXAL 



The "wild herd" is the remnant of 

 the vast herds that once inhabited our 

 plains and were driven l)aek into the 

 mountains by advancing civilization. 

 Owing to poaching and the difficulty of 

 protection under the laws then existing, 

 it decreased until only twenty-two ani- 

 mals were known to be in Yellowstone 

 Park in 1902. In July, 1912, a special 

 effort resulted in counting forty-nine 

 animals, and the number is now belie\ed 

 to be about seventy. E^•idently this 

 band will multiply if given adequate 

 protection. The word "wild" is a good 

 one; for these are the wildest of the 

 wild, never permitting the approach of 

 horse or man, living in the remotest 

 portions of the park, and wintering at an 

 elevation of eight thousand feet amid the 

 hot springs of the Pelican Valley. Here 

 they manage to gain a scanty li\ing 

 from the grass freed from snow b\- the 

 interior heat. Aside from deep snow 

 this valley is a good place for them, 

 affording as it does good protection from 

 the bleak, w^intry winds that sweep across 

 the park plateau. In summer the\- ha^■e 

 ample grazing in secluded nooks. 



Throughout the southern part of the 

 park and particularly in the valley of the 

 upper Yellowstone River, live the moose. 

 Living the farthest south of their kind 

 and isolated among the mountains, it is 

 hardly to be wondered at, that here has 

 developed a peculiar form known as 

 Alces (iiiicrica)ius shirasi. The numbei- 

 is conservatively estimated at six hun- 

 dred. Since these animals are slowly 

 spreading to other parts of the Yellow- 

 stone and are found e\-en far to the 

 south of Jackson Lake, it is e\ident that 

 they are increasing. ()bser\'ations at 

 the center of abundance .seem to confirm 

 this. These moose are found mainly 

 upon the broad willow-covered, marshy 

 bottoms of the upper Yellowstone, Snak(% 

 Falls River, and (iallatin vallevs. Feed- 



ing upon the willows and a few scattered 

 quaking asp, as well as upon the acjuatic 

 plants of the numerous beaver ponds, 

 their supply of food is plentiful. Their 

 habitat is a secluded one and thev have 



"^w. 



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The ruriiiiaiil of the vast herds of buffalo that 

 roamed our plaius in years past occu|)ies Yellowstone 

 Park ai)d is known as the "wild herd" 



