346 THE BISONS OF THE CAUCASUS. 



Hutner, his master of the hunt, concerning the life and habits of 

 these animals, so little known, so rare, and so difficult to observe when 

 at large, and which, it was mistaken!}^ believed, had forever disap- 

 peared from this region. 



It is true that the bison is no longer seen in the western valleys of 

 the Caucasus, between Sotchi and Sukhum. There is, however, every 

 reason to believe that it never lived the^e even in ancient times. The 

 rare examples reported by Doctor Radde were not indigenous to that 

 region, but descended from time to time from the principal range of 

 the Caucasus when the snow was extraordinarily deep, or when pas- 

 turage was lacking upon the northern slope of the range, which ^vas 

 their true habitat ; there their number not only does not tend to 

 diminish, but increases from jesiY to year, thanks to the measures 

 of protection taken by the Grand Duke Sergius. Thus, according to 

 the report of M. Hutner, while their number twenty j^ears ago was 

 estimated as 400 head, there are at jDresent at least 600. During this 

 time the Grand Duke has organized, at his own expense, a complete 

 service of game wardens, and, as he is the only one who has hunted 

 the animals, there have been killed, for purely scientific purposes, to 

 supply the various museums of the Empire, only 12 specimens, and 

 these, too, were old animals, viseless for breeding. 



In the forest of Bielowitza (Lithuania) , where the number of bison 

 can be more accurately ascertained than in the almost inaccessible 

 valley's of the Caucasus, there are supposed to be to-day at least 700 

 head." Thus in these two localities alone there is a total of 1,300 head. 

 On the other hand, according to the statement of M. Forbin, there is 

 a total lack of bison in the virgin forests of Siberia, no trace of these 

 animals having ever been found there. 



Zoologically the Caucasian bison is quite identical in race with the 

 bison of Bielowitza, although one lives in the northwest and the other 

 at the southern limit of European Eussia. The anatomical charac- 

 ters and bodily conformation of the bison show that it is not 

 naturally an inhabitant of the mountains. During the middle ages 

 it pervaded the great forests of Germany, Austria, and Poland, and 

 even in France it was pursued in the Ardennes at the time of the 

 Roman conquest. By constantly and desperately fleeing before man, 

 retiring toward the south, the bison has found in the Caucasus a 

 refuge, not very suitable, but safe, on the slope of mountains which 

 Avere for a long time inaccessible, and which were, in fact, closed to 

 the Russians until the last fifty years, not only because of the topo- 

 graphical difficulties, but also because of the wars with the Tcher- 



oAccordiug to a census made in the month of March. 190G. the number of 

 bison in the forest of Bielowitza was 663, but this was before the time of calv- 

 ing, which takes place in the months of April and May. 



