266 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



he throws himself flat on his side, and then forcing himself 

 violently around with his horns, his feet, and huge hump, 

 plows up the ground still more, thus enlarging the pool till he 

 at length becomes nearly immersed. Besmeared with a coat- 

 ing of the pasty mixture, he at length rises, changed into a 

 'monster of mud and ugliness.' with the black mud dripping 

 from his shaggy mane and thick woolly coat. The mud soon 

 drying upon his body insures him hours of immunity from the 

 attack of insects. Others follow in succession, having waited 

 their turns to enjoy the luxury; each rolls and wallows in a 

 similar way, adding a little to the dimensions of the hole, and 

 carrying away a share of the adhesive mud. By this means 

 an excavation is eventually made having a diameter of fifteen 

 or twenty feet, and two feet in depth." Similar excavations 

 are made upon the dry prairie and receive the same name. 

 However formed, these cavities serve a useful purpose as reser- 

 voirs of rain water for man and beast, and in not a few cases 

 during the exciting Indian wars such wallows have formed 

 natural rifle pits in which a small band has been able to resist 

 the onslaught of a much superior force of savages. The wal- 

 lows may be detected from a distance by the greener and 

 ranker grass of the margin. 



Rutting takes place in July and August and one, or at most 

 two calves are dropped in March to June. The young consort 

 with the cows and younger bulls, but do not form separate 

 herds. Conflicts plentifully intermixed with sonorous bellowing 

 are frequent but so short are the horns and so tough and shaggy 

 the head that serious results are rare. Even when enraged 

 the buffalo is rarely the formidable and pertinacious foe repre- 

 sented in penny books of adventure. 



The buffalo is easily tamed and the cross with the domestic 

 cattle is fertile. Great diversity of opinion prevails as to their 

 availability for domestic purposes. Some suppose that great 

 improvement in domestic breeds of cattle could be secured 

 by crossing with the wild relatives but the preponderance of 

 evidence seems rather to negative the assertion. 



The attempt was made at one time in Virginia but the results 

 were unfavorable. It would seem that a race of draught oxen 

 might be reared from this stock but no persistent experiments 

 have been made. Sibley speaks of a man who in the Red river 

 valley had broken a bull to the plow and performed the whole 

 labor of the field with him alone. 



