American Bison 307 



in-and-in breeding. And thirdly, the circumstance that when animals are 

 living under unsuitable conditions, the preponderance of male over temale 

 offspring becomes so marked as to lead eventually to extermination. In 

 the herd at Bronx Park, New York, nearly all the calves have been males ; 

 and at one time this was the case with those at Woburn Abbey, although 

 subsequently this has been reversed. 



The ill effects of in-and-in breeding may, the author thinks, be counter- 

 acted by exchanges between the numerous herds now kept in captivity. 

 But in regard to the prospect presented by the abnormally large percentage 

 of bull calves he is very desponding ; and to this cause he considers the 

 ultimate extinction of the species will be due. 



Recently a Bill was brought before Congress proposing that 20,000 

 acres in New Mexico should be devoted to forming a bison reserve, and 

 stocked with at least a hundred head of these animals, but it failed to pass. 

 And, although the project is likely to be again brought up for considera- 

 tion, it is improbable that it will ever become law. 



For the former range of the American bison the reader may be referred 

 to IVild Oxen, Sheep, ami Goats. 



In the typical prairie bison of Texas and other districts in the United 

 States the head, neck, chest, and shoulders are blackish brown, or in some 

 instances almost pure black ; the rest of the coat being paler and passing 

 into cinnamon on the rump. The muzzle, horns, and hoofs are black. 

 A bull from Kansas in the Field Columbian Museum at Chicago measured 

 2949 millimetres in total length, 1742 in height at the withers, and 3050 

 in girth at the shoulders ; these dimensions being taken in the tiesh. 



