MAMMALS OP MINNESOTA. 267 



There is no doubt as to the fertility of the cross and the size 

 is increased, but the beef is rather inferior and milking quali- 

 ties have not been tested, while the traits of the wild animal to 

 some extent persist. It is very desirable, however, that the 

 experiment should be more carefully made. Since it is doubt- 

 ful if the project is sufficiently alluring to attract private 

 enterprise it would seem legitimate for the government to estab- 

 lish preserves where such experiments should be systematically 

 undertaken. 



In this connection the following clipped from the Week's 

 Current of January, 1887, may be of interest: 



' 'A gentleman is now successfully domesticating the American 

 buffalo at Stony Mountain, Manitoba. Starting his herd is 1878 

 with five calves, it now numbers sixty-one head; the greater 

 number pure buffaloes, the rest half-breeds. In January they 

 were all sleek and fat, and yet, they were then living on the 

 open prairie and feeding on the prairie grasses covered by 

 snow. At this time the snow was deep and the thermometer 

 had for a long time registered 29 or more below zero. When 

 a blizzard comes on, the animals lie down together, with their 

 backs to the wind, and allow the snow to drift over them, so 

 that under the combined protection of their own wool and the 

 snow they are quite warm. Not one of the herd has ever 

 exhibited the slightest symptom of disease, although the only 

 care they receive is occasional watching to prevent them from 

 straying away. Thus winter and summer, they live and thrive 

 on the bare prairie with numbers undiminished by any of the 

 ordinary cattle scourges and with expenses reduced to a mini- 

 mum. When the present herd is sufficiently increased, it is in- 

 tended to divide it among several prairie ranges where once the 

 buffalo roamed at will." 



Before the introduction of horses and fire -arms from Europe 

 the pursuit of the buffalo was attended with exhibitions of skill 

 and prowess no longer requisite. But even then numbers of 

 the attacking party and the unsuspicious nature of the game 

 robbed the chase of much of its interest and made it too much 

 like wholesale butchery. 



On the prairies of the west the season of the buffalo hunt 

 held a marked place in the Indian calendar. Prolonged prepar- 

 ations were made and it issued in festivity and unusual activity. 

 In many places the herd was "corraJled" by fire and the ani- 

 mals, blinded and alarmed by the flames, rushed unsuspectingly 

 upon the hunters who had their own way with them. In other 



