I 



THE BUITALO OR BISON 115 



J. A. Allen, dated July 11, 1877, and quoted by Hornaday. 

 Nelson states: "I have met here [he was writing from St. 

 Michael, Alaska] two gentlemen who crossed the moun- 

 tains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon 

 through British America, from whom I have derived some 

 information about the buffalo (Bison americanits) which will 

 be of interest to you. These gentlemen descended the Peace 

 River and on about the one hundred and eighteenth degree 

 of longitude made a portage to Hay River, directly north. 

 On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls and 

 old trails, in some instances two or three feet deep, leading 

 east and west. They wintered on Hay River near its en- 

 trance into Great Slave Lake and here found the buffalo still 

 common, occupying a restricted territory along the southern 

 border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry 

 concerning the large number of skulls seen on the portage 

 and learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the 

 estimated depth of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals 

 that they perished by thousands. It is asserted that these 

 buffaloes are larger than those of the plains." It should be 

 pointed out in passing that the only herd of wild buffalo 

 (as opposed to those enclosed in government reserves) is 

 to be found in the region referred to above. Further de- 

 tails regarding this herd will be given later. 



The buffalo was migratory in its habits, and in this re- 

 spect it differed from most of the other terrestrial quad- 

 rupeds of America. In the spring, on the return of mild 

 weather, it migrated about 300 or 400 miles northward to 

 feed on the better pasturage it found there, and in the fall, 

 when winter approached, it left its range, extending from 

 the Peace River southward, and the great herds moved 

 south. This migratory habit was no doubt responsible for 

 the failure of the buffalo to break up into local races, ex- 

 cept possibly in the case of the buffalo occupying the afore- 

 mentioned region southwest of Great Slave Lake. The 



