192 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE BUFFALO. 



The Buffalo. Number of Species. Difference between Them. The gi- 

 gantic Buffalo of prehistoric Times. Fierce Aspect of the modern Bi- 

 son. Courage of the Male. Social Character of the Species. Mothers 

 have LHtle Affection for the Calves. Fight between a Grizzly Bear 

 and a Small Herd of Bulls. A Bull rescues a Calf from a Pack of 

 Wolves. Another tries to protect a Cow from a Hunter. A New 

 Mode of capturing Calves. Buffaloes in a State of Domestication. 

 Favorite Habitat of the Buffalo. Character of the Buffalo Grass. 

 Sufferings of the Animals in Winter from Hunger. Why Old Bulls 

 leave the Herds. Use of the Buffalo to the Indians. The Flesh of the 

 Buffalo. A Custom of the West. How the Wolverine feasts on dried 

 Buffalo Meat. Cunning and Courage. Pemmican. The most Deli- 

 cate Parts of the Buffalo. Cows better than Bulls. Vitality of the 

 Animals. Best Weapons for hunting Them. American Horses versus 

 Mustangs. Opinion of Old Hunters. Faults of Mustangs in running 

 Buffaloes. The Various Systems employed for killing the Buffalo. 

 Great Annual Slaughter of the Animal. Indians dressed in Wolf-skins 

 attack the Buffalo. Why they use Arrows instead of Fire-arms. Hunts 

 of the Half-breeds of British America. Mean Devices of the Whites. 

 How Thousands are destroyed Annually. The Camp and the Night 

 Alarm. Shooting at Antelopes. Stalking Buffalo Skulls. Gambols 

 of Herds. A Dash after a Herd, and what came of it. An Alarm of 

 Indians. Opinions of a Party of Teutons about Jokes. The Result to 

 me of my Day's hunting. A Spirited Chase in the Republican Valley. 

 Wolves and Number of Quarries killed. A Thousand Hunters and 

 Thousands of Buffaloes in Motion at the same Time. Howling Wolves 

 and bellowing Bisons. An Alarm of Sioux. The Retreat. Panic- 

 stricken Pawnees. 



THE bison, or American buffalo (Bos americanus), is 

 now confined to a few regions extending from British 

 America to New Mexico, but it is nowhere abundant com- 

 pared to what it was. 



There are supposed to be two distinct species of the ani- 

 mal, namely, the common one which frequents the prairies, 

 and the wood, or mountain buffalo, which is never seen on 



