194 



UNGULATES. 



Many similar accounts attesting the vast swarms of bison which formerly 

 roamed the prairies might be quoted, but the foregoing are sufficient for our purpose. 

 Evidence of the numbers of these animals is still to be seen in the huge stacks of 

 skulls piled up at many of the railway stations in the States awaiting transport. 



The main cause which led to the extirpation of the bison was the advance of 

 railways. With the progress of civilisation the bison was, indeed, foredoomed to 



HEAD OF AMERICAN BISON. 



disappear ; but its end was hastened by the reckless way in which the unfortunate 

 animals were shot for the sake of their hides or tongues ; by the want of protective 

 legislation on the part of the Government ; by the preference for the flesh and 

 skin of cows, by the marvellous stupidity and indifference to man of the animals 

 themselves, and by the perfection of modern firearms. 



It appears that although the bison had for more than a century been subject 

 to a merciless persecution, both by Indians and Whites, yet up to the year 1830, 

 beyond a certain restriction in its area of distribution, this desultory warfare had 

 not made any very serious inroads on the numbers of the animals ; and that as late 



