The Bison 137 



river. The simple fact is that the animals which 

 saw the danger were unable to avoid it on ac- 

 count of the pressure from behind, and those that 

 were pressing the leaders on were ignorant of the 

 danger toward which they were rushing. 



I have already adverted to the popular but 

 erroneous belief that the buffalo performed exten- 

 sive migrations in spring and fall. This is not 

 true. There were, unquestionably, certain sea- 

 sonal movements east and west, and north and 

 south, yet these movements were never very ex- 

 tended, and constituted nothing more than the 

 very general shiftings which are made by many 

 ruminants between a summer and a winter range. 

 Throughout the country lying between the Sas- 

 katchewan and the Missouri River, the buffalo, in 

 summer, moved up close to the mountains and 

 even into the foot-hills ; and at the coming of 

 winter, with its snows and its bitter winds, they 

 moved to the eastward again, seeking the lower 

 ground and such shelter as the ravines and buttes 

 and timbered river valleys of the prairie might 

 afford. 



On the other hand, buffalo, in their journeys to 

 water, usually travelled to the nearest streams, and 

 as on the plains the streams usually run from west 



