156 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



but heroic treatment will prevent the animal from joining 

 the dodo, the great auk, and the mammoth. 



Professor Hornaday thinks that there are at present 

 400 living buffalo in the whole world. The herd of the 

 Flathead Indians, the "Buffalo Jones" herd, the Good- 

 night herd, the Corbin herd, a few specimens here and 

 there in zoological parks, remnants still of perhaps twen- 

 ty in the Yellowstone National Park, and a few scattered 

 "wood buffalo" west of Hudson Bay embrace all that are 

 left of the countless millions of a generation ago. 



Col. C. J. Jones was engaged with others in the general 

 slaughter which nearly exterminated the buffalo. He 

 realized that very soon there would not be a living speci- 

 men of this wonderful animal, and he attempted to pre- 

 serve at least a small herd from destruction. He ac- 

 cordingly went systematically about the capturing of 

 calves, driving with him milch cows to preserve the little 

 captives, and he has at present about 100, the descendants 

 of these captured calves. It is gratifying to find that his 

 humane experiment was not unprofitable. The govern- 

 ment tried to save 400 of these animals in Yellowstone 

 Park, but in that high altitude, with its rigorous weather 

 and the relentless destruction of the animals when they 

 wandered beyond the limits of the park, it is not probable 

 that there are more than twenty still alive. The climate 

 of the Yellowstone Park, the high altitude, and the heavy 

 snows there have all proven great barriers to the preser- 

 vation or propagation of these animals. 



In a more favorable climate, with adequate protection 

 and opportunity for ranging, breeding may be success- 

 fully carried on. Experience has shown that in close con- 

 finement most of the calves are males, but on the open 

 range, under more natural conditions, the birthrate of 

 the two sexes is about equal. If no one were now willing 

 and able to try the experiment of restoring a sufficient 



