126 Bird-Jfe*ting 



at full speed, and turning in his saddle he saw the foremost 

 leaders of the buffaloes had passed the waggons, and the mass 

 of animals were close upon the little band of human beings. 

 A few seconds later he heard the guns fired, a feeble shout, a 

 crash, and screams from the women. The waggons had collapsed, 

 and over a dozen poor souls were being trampled into eternity. 

 He rode furiously away from the animals ; it was a ride for 

 life, and more than once his hprse stumbled, but recovered itself. 

 After half an hour's hard gallop he found he had gained on the 

 herd of buffaloes, and noticed the leaders were heading for the 

 west, so he rode eastward where he saw in the distance a bluff' 

 in which he hoped to secure protection. Slackening his horse's 

 pace, he turned round and saw the buffaloes were two miles 

 west of him ; he now breathed freely knowing he had escaped 

 being run down and trampled to death ; coming to a halt he 

 watched the multitude pass before him in the distance, and he 

 estimated there must have been upwards of ten thousand buf- 

 faloes. After the herd had passed, they were in sight for nearly 

 an hour afterwards, and at last disappeared in the distance. 

 It was now nearly dark, so he decided to spend the night in 

 the bluff, so he tied his horse to a tree and laid himself down 

 at the foot of a tree, but he could not sleep. At day break he 

 got up, and at noon he reached his destination, where he re- 

 ported the disaster and his narrow escape. The following day 

 he led a party to the scene of the disaster, where they found a 

 number of vultures on the spot, and all that remained as evi- 

 dence of this sad event were a few pieces of iron, wood and 

 bones, scattered for nearly a mile over the prairie. The ground 

 was ploughed by the thousands of feet that had passed over it, 

 showing a track across the prairie over half a mile in width. 

 These mad rushes of the herds of buffaloes are caused by thirst. 

 Fortunately at the present day the ornithologist can ramble 

 over the vast prairie at his own sweet will, without fear of 

 being run down by a herd of mad buffaloes. However, it is to 

 be regretted that these animals, once so plentiful, are now almost 

 extinct, and it was a sad sight to see the skulls and bones of 

 these animals scattered all over the prairie, and in some places 



