MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 267 
There is no doubt as to the fertility of the cross and the size 
is increased, but the'beef is rather inferior and milking quali- 
ties have not been tested, while the traits of the wild animal to 
some extent persist. It is very desirable, however, that the 
experiment should be more carefully made. Since it is doubt- 
ful if the project is sufficiently alluring to attract private 
enterprise it would seem legitimate for the government to estab- 
lish preserves wheresuch experiments should be systematically 
undertaken. 
In this connection the following clipped from the Week's 
Current of January, 1887, may be of interest: 
‘‘A gentleman is now successfully domesticating the American 
buffalo at Stony Mountain, Manitoba. Starting his herd is 1878 
with five calves, it now numbers sixty-one head; the greater 
number pure buffaloes, the rest half-breeds. In January they 
were all sleek and fat, and yet, they were then living on the 
open prairie and feeding on the prairie grasses covered by 
snow. At this time the snow was deep and the thermometer 
had for a long time registered 29° or more below zero. When 
a blizzard comes on, the animals lie down together, with their 
backs to the wind, and allow the snow to drift over them, so 
that under the combined protection of their own wool and the 
snow they are quite warm. Not one of the herd has ever 
exhibited the slightest symptom of disease, although the only 
care they receive is occasional watching to prevent them from 
straying away. Thus winter and summer, they live and thrive 
on the bare prairie with numbers undiminished by any of the 
_ ordinary cattle scourges and with expenses reduced to a mini- 
mum. When the present herd is sufficiently increased, it is in- 
tended to divide it among several prairie ranges where once the 
buffalo roamed at will.” 
Before the introduction of horses and fire-arms from Europe 
the pursuit of the buffalo was attended with exhibitions of skill 
and prowess no longer requisite. But even then numbers of 
the attacking party and the unsuspicious nature of the game 
robbed the chase of much of its interest and made it too much 
like wholesale butchery. 
On the prairies of the west the season of the buffalo hunt 
held a marked place in the Indian calendar. Prolonged prepar- 
ations were made and it issued in festivity and unusual activity. 
In many places the herd was ‘‘corralled” by fire and the ani- 
mals, blinded and alarmed by the flames,rushed unsuspectingly 
upon the hunters who had their own way with them. In other 
