1 62 SrORTIXG ADVENTURES 



appearances are often deceiving, for the novice on gazing 1 at 

 its ponderous proportions, its large head covered with thick, 

 matted hair, its shaggy mane, a foot long, its sullen demeanour, 

 its wicked eyes, which seem to glow into an emerald lire with 

 rage and hate, and its sharp-pointed horns, would be apt to 

 consider it one of the most dangerous of quadrupeds ; yet the 

 reverse is the case, for unless wounded or cornered, it is one of 

 the mildest, most harmless, and stupid animals on the Con- 

 tinent. The only time in which it is liable to assume the 

 offensive is during the rutting season, in July, for it is then 

 exceedingly petulant, and the temper of the males is not soothed 

 by their frequent though generally bloodless contests, and their 

 long fasts, for wooing occupies the greater portion of their 

 attention. They are more afraid of man than any other foe, 

 and while they will take little notice of the wolf, cougar, or 

 grizzly bear, one sniff of the former will cause thousands of 

 them to flee for miles at their best pace. The males are by no 

 means deficient in courage, for they will boldly attack a grizzly, 

 and if their horns are not blunted by rooting- in the ground, are 

 able to place that monarch of the western wilds Jiurs decomhai 

 occasionally. 



The social character of the bison is much like that of the 

 domestic cattle. It is gregarious in habit, and travels in 

 herds which have been estimated to contain over one hundred 

 thousand individuals, and to cover an extensive plain so 

 thickly that it looked almost one mass of black dots at a dis- 

 tance. The herds are not so large now as they formerly were, 

 yet they may, in some regions, still be compared to the "cattle 

 on a thousand hills," and few grander sights can be witnessed 

 than to behold them in herds of many hundreds, moving north 

 or south during their annual migrations. 



The females commence bearing when three years old, and 

 continue to be prolific up to an old age. They produce 

 only one calf at a time, and drop that generally in April, 

 though I have seen some in July that did not look to be more 

 than two or three weeks old. 



The mothers seem to have little affection for their young, 

 and generally desert them at the first alarm; but the males 



