264 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



seems not improbable that the habit of going in herds may 

 have had its origin in the necessity of protection against these 

 enemies. When separated from the herd the mother was often 

 obliged to pass the night in sleepless vigil, pacing about her 

 sleeping calf. The following extract from a letter from Mr. 

 Upham is suggestive -in this connection : 



i "When this part of the state was examined in 1881, the dis- 

 appearance of these animals was so recent ^that their bones, es- 

 pecially their skulls, were frequently seen on the prairie. In 

 many places, also, rings of taller and greener grass than the 

 ordinary prairie sward, were observed, having a width of five 

 or six feet, and forming a circle from two to six rods in diam- 

 eter. According to Mr. James Nolan, of McCauleyville, these 

 mark a circuit tramped by buffalo cows while walking around 

 their calves at night to guard them from besieging wolves. 

 Occasionally a half circle of such grass was seen, and this was 

 said by Mr. Nolan to be be where a lone buffalo guarded her 

 calf from a single wolf, which staid on one side through the 

 night, while the buffalo walked back and forth in a half -circle. " 

 Colonel Dodge gives an interesting account of the way in which 

 a party of bulls rescued and brought safely out of the jaws of 

 the wolves a newly born calf. Wolves do not confine their at- 

 tacks to the young, but harrass and destroy the old and 

 wounded. Catlin draws a pathetic picture of the old and de- 

 crepit bull standing on the defensive against an overpowering 

 number of wolves, even after eyes and much of the flesh of the 

 head had been torn away. Evidently the sluggish and stupid 

 buffalo could not long expect to escape the ruthless mounted 

 hunter. The white man with his firearms has rapidly brought 

 the whole race to the verge of extinction. 



In most respects the habits of the bison are like those of do- 

 mestic cattle. The propensity to rub upon any suitable object 

 has resulted in the polishing of the few projecting rocks and 

 trees found upon the prairies. This effect has sometimes been 

 referred to the action of blown sand. Mr. Upham kindly furn- 

 ishes notes from the Red river valley, which I transcribe: 

 "The few large boulders, three to five feet or sometimes more in 

 diameter, which are found jutting above the surface of the 

 prairie plain of the Red river valley (excepting within a few 

 miles next to the river, where the surface is alluvial clay ) and 

 through the west part of Minnesota further south, are usually 

 surrounded to a distance of five to ten feet from them by a 

 slight hollow, about a foot below the general surface, but there 



