Feb., 1912. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 93 



in South Carolina on the Seaboard and we were informed that from 

 the last herd seen in that state two were killed in the vicinity of Colum- 

 bia. It thus appears that at one period this animal ranged over nearly 

 the whole of North America." (/. c, p. 55.) 



Caton writes,* ^'When Hennepin and Lasalle first visited Illinois 

 two hundred years ago, the bison abounded in prodigious numbers, 

 although the whole country was occupied by Indian tribes who, to a 

 great extent, lived upon them. For the next hundred years but few 

 white men visited the country and scarcely any settled in it and yet in 

 that time nearly all the Bison had crossed the Mississippi River; and 

 after a most dilligent research I cannot learn that one has been seen 

 in Illinois for the last 85 or 90 years. The last bison were observed in 

 Illinois between 1780 and 1790." 



That they were found at a later date than this in Illinois is shown 

 by the statements of others. 



Andre Michaux, in writing of his travels in southern Illinois, (be- 

 tween Kaskaskia and Fort Massac) says, ''The 7th of October, 1795, 

 my guide killed a Buffalo which he considered to be about four years 

 old. . . . Thursday the 8th saw another Buffalo thirty toises from our 



road."t 



Woods (1822) refers to animals frequenting the salt licks at Birk's 

 Prairie, Illinois, and says: "The places were first used by the buffaloes, 

 that some years ago used to frequent the prairies. A man, who resides 

 at Birk's Prairie informed me, that eight or nine years since, he often 

 visited the Prairies, as he was then employed, with many others, during 

 a war with the Indians, to be on the look-out for them, and then he 

 often saw both elks and buffaloes, but they were not numerous, as 

 the country became settled, they moved off to the large prairies to the 

 north and west. "J 



At the time of the visit of Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, 

 (1832-34) he informs us that Buffalo were no longer to be found in 

 southern Illinois. He says, "The country on the banks of the Wabash 

 is as interesting to the zoologist as to the botanist. Formerly there 

 were great numbers of the bison or buffalo of the Anglo-Americans, 

 the elks, bear, and beaver; but they are now entirely extirpated."! 



In Wisconsin according to Dr. Hoy it was found at a much later 



* Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, 72. 



t Michaux, Andre. Travels into Kentucky, 1 795-1 796. (Translation in 

 Thwaites's Early Western Travels, III, 1904, p. 73.) 



t Woods, J. Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on English Prairie in the 

 Illinois Country, 1820-1821 (1822), pp. 165-166. 



§ Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied. Voyage in the interior of North 

 America, Lloyd edition, 1833 (1843), p. 76. 



