CHAPTER XXIX 



THE EXTINCTION OF THE BISON AND OF 

 WHALES 



THE almost complete and very sudden disappearance 

 of the bison in North America thirty years ago 

 does not seem to have been due simply to the slaughter 

 of tens of thousands of these creatures by men who made 

 a commerce of so-called " buffalo- rugs." These "hunters" 

 miscalled the unhappy bison, which is not a buffalo, nor 

 at all like that creature, just as they gave the name "elk" 

 to the great red deer (the wapiti), although there was a 

 real elk, the so-called " moose," staring them in the face. 

 The sudden extinction of the bison resulted partly from 

 the slaughter and partly from the breaking up of the 

 herds and the interference with their free migration by 

 the trans-continental railway. An interesting discovery 

 made only this year, in regard to the closely allied 

 European bison, suggests that disease may also have 

 played a part in the destruction of the North American 

 bison. A few hundred individuals of the European bison 

 are all that remain at this day. Some are carefully pre- 

 served by the Emperor of Russia in a tract of suitable 

 country in Lithuania and another herd exists in the 

 Caucasus. Some of the Lithuanian bison have lately 

 been dying in an unaccountable way, and on investigating 

 a dead individual a Russian observer has discovered a 

 4 trypanosome " parasite in the blood. The trypanosomes 



