The Bison or American Buffalo 27 



the appearance of being heavier-bodied and 

 shorter-legged. They have been sometimes 

 spoken of as forming a separate species; but, 

 judging from my own limited experience, and 

 from a comparison of the many hides I have 

 seen, I think they are really the same animal, 

 many individuals of the two so-called varie- 

 ties being quite indistinguishable. In fact the 

 only moderate-sized herd of wild bison in ex- 

 istence to-day, the protected herd in the Yel- 

 lowstone Park, is composed of animals inter- 

 mediate in habits and coat between the moun- 

 tain and plains varieties as were all the herds 

 of the Bighorn, Big Hole, Upper Madison, 

 and Upper Yellowstone valleys. 



However, the habitat of these wood and 

 mountain bison yielded them shelter from 

 hunters in a way that the plains never could, 

 and hence they have always been harder to 

 kill in the one place than in the other; for pre- 

 cisely the same reasons that have held good 

 with the elk, which have been completely ex- 

 terminated from the plains, while still abun- 

 dant in many of the forest fastnesses of the 

 Rockies. Moreover, the bison's dull eyesight 

 is no special harm in the woods, while it is 

 peculiarly hurtful to the safety of any beast 

 on the plains, where eyesight avails more than 



