HUN'ilNQ THE BISON. 89 



canes. Dr. James had an opportunity of observing them on such 

 occasions, and he thus describes their march : " In the middle of 

 the day countless thousands of them were seen coming in from 

 every quarter to the stagnant pools ;" and in another place he says, 

 that their paths are as frequent, and almost as conspicuous as the 

 roads in the most populous parts of the United States. 



The bisons, in truth, are a wandering race, the motives of their 

 restlessness being, either disturbance by hunters or change of pas- 

 ture. After the fire has cleared the prairie of all the old herbage, 

 the delicately tender grass which springs up in the r^om of the old 

 "wiry bents that fed the flame, offers the most grateful food to the 

 migratory bisons : such spots are well-known to the hunter as points 

 of attraction to these animals. In the winter, when the snow lies deep 

 over the vegetation, they scrape it away with their feet to get at 

 the grass. 



Fierce and terrible are the fights among the bulls in the rutting 

 season, and perilous is the condition of the man who then approaches 

 them. For the greatest part of the year the bulls and cows live in 

 separate herds ; but at all seasons, according to Dr. Richardson, 

 one or two old bulls generally accompany a large herd of cows. 



These powerful beasts are in general shy, and fly from the face 

 of man till they are wounded ; they then become furious, and 

 pursue their enemy with the most vindictive spirit, as we shall 

 presently see ; but we must first say a word or two on some of the 

 different modes of hunting them. Du Pratz and Charlevoix give 

 several particulars of the chase of these animals by the Indians. 11 

 the rifle be used the hunter is careful to go against the wind, for 

 the sense of smelling is so exquisite in the bison that it will other- 

 wise get scent of him and precipitately retire. If he gets within 

 rifle-distance, he is careful so to take his aim that the beast may 

 drop at once, and not be irritated by an ineffectual wound. 



But the great hunting is, or rather was, somewhat after the 

 manner of the Scottish " tinchel." A great number of men divide 

 and form a vust square. Each band sets h're to the dry grass of 

 the savannah where the herds are "'lin<r. When the aff 



