The Bison 133 



grow darker in color, and I have seen calves 

 in August that at a little distance seemed almost 

 as dark as the adult buffalo. 



The cow is devoted to her calf, and is ready 

 to fight for it against any enemy except man. 

 Usually, in the buffalo chase, the cow, thoroughly 

 frightened, paid no attention to the calf. But, on 

 the other hand, cases have occurred, where men 

 have been capturing calves to rear in captivity, 

 in which the cow refused to desert her offspring, 

 but turned upon the captor of the calf and 

 charged him with the utmost boldness. 



Colonel Dodge instances a case where a num- 

 ber of bulls devoted themselves to protecting a 

 calf against wolves. He says, " I have seen evi- 

 dence of this many times, but the most remark- 

 able instance I ever heard of was related to me 

 by an army surgeon who was an eye-witness. 

 He was one evening returning to camp after 

 a day's hunt, when his attention was attracted 

 by the curious actions of a little knot of six or 

 eight buffalo. Approaching sufficiently near to 

 see clearly, he discovered that this little knot 

 were all bulls, standing in a close circle with 

 their heads downward, while in a concentric 

 circle, at some twelve or fifteen paces distant, 



