140 



THE AMERICAN BIS0:N'S, 



met with each day appear to be duly chronicled."^ We are further led to 

 infer the entire absence at this time of buffaloes in Texas by some remarks 



^ I 



made by Captain Pope, in his General Report^ respecting the Comanche 

 Indians, whose country was on the head-waters of the Canadian and Red 

 Rivers, in the extreme northern part of Texas. He says : "During the sum- 

 mer months nearly the whole tribe migrates to the north, to hunt buffalo 

 and wild horses on the plains of the Upper Arkansas." f 



Captain H. M. Lazelle, 8th U. S. Infantry, informs me that in 1859 there 

 were no buffaloes in New Mexico, nor in Texas west of the 99th meridian, 

 but that there were vast numbers in Northern Texas between the meridians 

 of 99° and 96°; but that they did not extend so far south as Pope's old trail 

 of 18544 



Hence it apj)ears that for quite a number of years the buffaloes nearly 

 abandoned Texas, or visited only its northwestern portions, and w^ere of 

 somewliat uncertain occurrence, in summer at least, as far north as the Cana- 

 dian. Of late, however, they have again become common over a consider- 

 able portion of the northwestern part of the State, occasionally extending 



Major- 



General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General of the United States Army, says, 



in some valuable MS. notes on the buffalo, § that in the winter of 1869 



he saw their carcasses near Fort Concho, Texas, "showing that the buffalo 



had been abundant in that neighborhood the previous year." The prairies 



having been extensively burned that wdnter about Concho, the buffaloes had 



not appeared within twenty miles of the post that season. He also says 



that in the winter of 1871-72 they extended their migrations westward to 

 the Staked Plains. 



Mr. J. Boll, the well-known entomological collector, also informs me that 

 during the w^inter of 1874-75 they were still more abundant over quite a 

 large part of Northern Texas, doubtless in consequence of their persecution 

 by the hunters in Southwestern Kansas. Respecting the eastern boundary of 



southw^ard along the 100th meridian almost to the Rio Grande. 



7 



I- 



\ 



V 



♦ 



% 



I 



* Pacific K. E. Exploration and Surveys, Vol. II, Pope's Exploration o£ the 32d Parallel, from the Red 

 River to the Rio Grande, pp. 51 - 93. 

 j" Ibid., p. 15, 



t Pope's trail crosses the 96th meridian in about latitude 3S° 30', and strikes the Pecos in longitude 

 103° and latitude 31° 30^, at Emigrant Crossino-. 



§ For access to this interesting paper I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Elliott Coues, the eminent 



ornitholo'nst. 



MS. Notes on the Buffalo. 



i 



> 



