52 BUFFALO MIGRATIONS. 



where in this work, we shall not pursue this subject 

 further at present, but shall merely take occasion to 

 remark that the experience of old hunters, naturalists, 

 and travellers, and all those who have made a special 

 study of animal migrations, is now pretty nearly 

 unanimous in recognizing that great herds of game 

 are almost always seen either in regions of scanty 

 vegetation or else in climates where the rigours of the 

 winter drive all except the arctic fauna away in 

 search of milder climates. 



It may safely be received as an axiom, that it is 

 invariably the stress of want of some kind which in the 

 first instance, causes them to assemble ; and afterwards 

 prevents them from ever remaining stationary for more 

 than a very short time, while congregated together in 

 numerous companies. 



As regards the fact that great herds of game are 

 seldom met with in regions of luxuriant vegetation 

 the researches of the late Charles Darwin have pointed 

 this out in the clearest way, and show upon the most 

 conclusive evidence that vast herds of game are found 

 for the most part upon open plains covered by a poor 

 and scanty vegetation. With respect to this Mr. Dar- 

 win goes on to observe 



" That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation has been 

 a general assumption which has passed from one work to 

 another but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely 

 false; and that it has vitiated the reasoning of geologists on 

 some points of great interest, in the ancient history of the 

 world. If we refer to the works of travel through the south- 

 ern parts of Africa, we find allusions in almost every page, 

 to the desert character of the country, and to the numbers of 

 large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is rendered evi- 



