256 



HERDS OF BISONS. 



some of these huge creatures, their real or affected 

 comhats, and the slow or rapid progress of others 

 to and from their watering-places. On the distant 

 bluffs, individuals were constantly disappearing, 

 whilst others were presenting themselves to the 

 view, until, as the dusk of evening increased, their 

 massive forms, thus elevated above the line of 

 other objects, were but dimly denned on the skies. 



THE BISON (Bos bubalus). 



In the morning, our travellers again sought the 

 living picture, but upon all the plain which last 

 evening so teemed w r ith noble animals not one 

 remained; the prairie's wide unbroken surface of 

 waving verdure was unenlivened by any moving 

 object, and bounded only by the vast horizon. But 

 this uniformity was of short duration; for, in ad- 

 dition to the vast herds of bisons that were con- 



