138 OUR NATIVE BIRDS 
of elk, antelope, deer, mountain sheep, and other ‘big 
game’ mammals that still exist in our country, should 
be warned by the fate of the great northern herd of 
American bison, and act in time. In 1880 it was esti- 
mated by the hunters and fur-buyers of Montana that 
‘the buffalo range’ of Montana, Wyoming, and west- 
ern Dakota contained five hundred thousand buffaloes ; 
and I think the estimate was not-over the mark. On 
June 1, 1883, less than four hundred individuals re- 
mained; and it was several years before the people of 
the United States awoke to a realization of the fact that 
the great. buffalo herds were actually and absolutely 
gone! With the fate of the buffalo before our eyes, it 
requires no seer to predict, with absolute certainty, that 
unless thorough and drastic measures are immediately 
taken to preserve the remnants of our once splendid 
herds of game quadrupeds, and flocks of game birds, 
a very few years more —we will say ten for some and 
fifteen for others — will find our country without enough 
wild representatives of those species to stock a zodlogi- 
cal garden. 
‘Conclusions Regarding Western Mammals. — 
“1. Throughout the whole region west of the Missis- 
sippi River, except in the Yellowstone Park and Colo- 
rado, all the large quadrupeds, save gray wolves and 
coyotes, are being shot down several times faster than 
they multiply. 
“2. Under existing conditions, their general annihila- 
tion within a few years’ time (save in the two localities 
noted) may be regarded as a certainty. 
