192 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



hunted bufifalo during the days of Custer's campaign on the Ca- 

 nadian River ; Ouannah Parker, Chief of the Comanches ; Kiawa 

 Dutch Pennah, a man 80 years old, who had been captured by 

 the Indians when a child, and had lived with them almost con- 

 tinually since then. All of these men had hunted buffalo in the 

 early days — some of them on the very land now being considered 

 for a bufifalo range. 



Although I questioned all of them closely, with but one excep- 

 tion I was unable to learn that buft'alo in those days had died of 

 any contagious disease. Mr. Goodnight said that when cattle 

 came into Texas the buffalo died of Texas fever. Aside from 

 this report, all agreed that there were few deaths among the 

 herds outside of the regular mortality among the old bulls and 

 cows, or the very young calves that occasionally died during 

 severe winters. 



Texas fever is the only questionable point worthy of consid- 

 eration in connection with propagating buff'alo in Oklahoma. 

 Just how serious it will prove to be can be told only after the 

 buffalo have been put on the range. There may be ways of treat- 

 ing the buffalo so that they will be immune to the disease. 



From the time that I arrived at Cache I heard of Texas fever 

 among cattle. Naturally the question arose, " Are buffalo sus- 

 ceptible to Texas fever?" The only way to settle the question 

 was to talk with men who had raised buffalo in or near the fever 

 district. Accordingly, I decided to visit Mr. Charles Goodnight, 

 of Goodnight, Texas, the loi Ranch at Bliss, Oklahoma, and 

 Major Gordon W. Lillie at Pawnee, Oklahoma. The informa- 

 tion gained from these gentlemen was as follows : 



While Mr. Goodnight had never lost buffalo from Texas fever, 

 he feels convinced that they are susceptible to it, basing his be- 

 lief on the experience of others. Mr. C. J. Jones (" Buffalo 

 Jones ") took two of Mr. Goodnight's buffalo to Sherman, Texas 

 (in the fever district), and they were there just long enough to 

 get the fever, which killed them. On the other hand, Mr. Good- 

 night sent 4 buffaloes to San Antonio, which is also in the fever 

 district, and he thinks they are still living. 



Mr. Joseph Miller, President of the loi Ranch at Bliss, bought 

 a herd of buffalo in the fall of 1904. He has never taken buffalo 

 into the fever district. The fever quarantine line is about a mile 

 west of his buft'alo pasture, yet Texas fever has not aft'ected his 

 herd. The buft'alo that he got in the spring of 1905 he brought 

 from the AUard ranch in Montana, and soon after arriving they 

 began to die, and he had lost 15. They would first refuse to eat. 



