The King of the Plains 21 



trates how rapidly nature can work when 

 she is obliged to. Old hunters in Texas re- 

 ported in about 1875 that a new species of 

 buffalo had appeared in the state. They 

 were taller and longer legged, and did not 

 ever become fat like the old species. Some 

 of the hunters said that this new buffalo 

 had come up from Mexico, but the truth 

 was at last discovered. This was merely 

 a new form of the same harassed old spe- 

 cies, adapting itself to new conditions. The 

 bison was now so continually upon the 

 run that he did not have time to get fat, 

 while this tended also to develop the length 

 of his legs, and his speed. Thus in fifteen 

 or twenty years, under this high pressure, 

 nature created what old hunters had deemed 

 a new species of buffalo. 



The northern herd which inhabited more 

 difficult country to hunt held its own better, 

 and was not wholly slaughtered until about 

 1883. Here also rapid specialization was 



