104 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



extraordinary difficulty with which specimens of the American Bison were 

 obtained for the Museum. In 1886 it was noticed that the representatives 

 of the species in the Museum were very defective, arid it was decided to 

 secure at once, before the animal was wholly exterminated, a complete series 

 of fresh skins and skeletons. The chief taxidermist was directed to set to 

 work forthwith; but his enquiries were met by the assurance that the 

 "Buffalo" were all gone except in the Yellowstone Park. Eventually 

 reports were received that a few remained in Montana and a few in Texas. 

 It was decided not to wait for the ordinary hunting season, but to start 

 without delay. About seventy-five miles N.W. of Miles City, Montana, a 

 herd of fifty to sixty "Buffalo" was discovered. The residents along the 

 Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers were quite ignorant of the existence of 

 the herd in these wild and uninhabited regions, and it had found safe 

 shelter there ever since the destruction of the great northern herd in 

 1881 — 83, and was breeding in fancied security. But the settlement of 

 the country by ranchmen which had just taken place doomed every one of 

 these animals to destruction, and the sequel showed that the Smithsonian 

 officials were only just in time to secure a few specimens. Three were 

 taken in this expedition, and later in the year twenty-two more were killed 

 and preserved. The skins and skeletons thus secured are described as 

 being now " of almost priceless value" when the last of the Bos americanus 

 is practically destroyed. So rapidly are the great game animals of the 

 United States disappearing, that " it is a sad certainty that in a very few 

 years the Elk, or Wapiti, Mountain Sheep, Goat, Deer, Moose, and other 

 forms will have totally disappeared." 



Hybrid between Goat and Sheep. — It has always been a matter of 

 surprise to me that hybrids between Goat and Sheep have not been produced 

 in this country, but I have sought for them in vain for many years. In the 

 Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris there are several such hybrids, presented by 

 the Government of Chili; 1 saw four females and one male there. They 

 are said to be a cross between a he-goat and an ewe, and the intermediate 

 appearance which they present both in pelage and horn (the females are horn- 

 less) seems to confirm this report of their origin. The ram and two of the 

 ewes are of a grey colour ; the other three ewes are much darker, in fact 

 nearly black ; all have the legs black ; the hair-like wool is divided into locks 

 after the manner of that of long-woolled sheep ; tails tolerably long and 

 pendant, more resembling those of a Goat than Sheep. — J. Jenner Weir. 

 [Mr. C. L. Sutherland, to whom we showed this note, has favoured us 

 with the following addition to it; — "These hybrids are reported to be 

 quite common in Chili and Peru, where they are called ' Chabins.' At 

 Philadelphia in 1876 I was assured by the Commissioner of the Argentine 

 Republican Government that they were commonly bred all through the 

 Republic, and that the hybrids are perfectly fertile." — Ed.] 



