THE BISON 



The buffalo was the largest and economically 

 the most important of North American mammals. 

 It was also one of the most numerous, and over 

 a great area of the continent was practically the 

 sole support of its aboriginal inhabitants. Within 

 the memory of men who as yet are hardly middle- 

 aged, it roamed the country between the Missouri 

 River and the Rocky Mountains, in multitudes 

 so vast that it was commonly stated that its num- 

 bers could not be materially reduced, that it would 

 exist long after the speakers had died. Yet, 

 within thirty years it has so absolutely disap- 

 peared that the number of living wild buffalo 

 existing to-day is probably not greater than the 

 herd of European bison — commonly, but erro- 

 neously, called aurochs — so carefully preserved 

 in the forests of Lithuania by the Russian Czar. 



The history of the buffalo's extermination has 

 been many times written, and the cause of its dis- 

 appearance is not far to seek. It was killed in 



