The Bison i 47 



protective instinct which is common to the young 

 of many large mammals, at a time when they are 

 without weapons for self-protection, and without 

 strength or speed to save themselves by flight. 



At various times during the last two hundred 

 years, attempts have been made to domesticate 

 the buffalo, and with entire success. But these 

 attempts have never been continued long enough 

 to be productive of any economic results. Never- 

 theless, buffalo were kept in captivity from the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century, and toward 

 the end of that century were actually domesti- 

 cated, bred, and crossed with domestic cattle in 

 Virginia, and somewhat later in Kentucky. The 

 very full account given to Mr. Audubon by Mr. 

 Robert Wycliff, of Lexington, Kentucky, in 1843, 

 has often been quoted, and all the experiments 

 since made have confirmed the conclusions then 

 stated. It was proved, and is now well known, 

 that the buffalo, in domestication, are easily 

 handled, respect fences, and are but little more 

 difficult to control than domestic cattle ; that the 

 male buffalo crosses readily with the domestic 

 cow; that the progeny of the two species are 

 fertile with either species and among themselves. 

 It has also been demonstrated that the cross-bred 



