THE AMEEICAN BISONS. 59 



The moulting of the buffaloes begins quite early in the season, their skins 

 being in prime condition for robes during only about three months of the 

 year. They are in their best estate for this purpose in December, though 

 they are in fair condition in November and January, and are indeed pretty 

 fully haired in the months preceding and following these. The long hair on 

 the legs, neck, and head is not annually shed, but the soft short woolly 

 covering of the body is usually renewed each year. The short soft hair 

 begins to loosen in February, and during the following months gradually 

 falls, so that by May or June the body of the animal, especially the posterior 

 part, becomes quite naked, and remains so for several weeks. Gradually the 

 dark-colored new hair begins to appear, covering the animal's body with a 

 fine soft velvety coat. During the period of moulting the animal presents a 

 very ragged and uncouth appearance, the woolly hair hanging here and there 

 in matted loosened masses with intervening naked spaces. During this 

 period the animals search for trees, bushes, rocks, or banks of earth against 

 Avhich they may rub to free themselves from the loosened hair, often also 

 rolling on the ground for the same purpose. The hair on the hump, which 

 is thicker and longer than that on the other parts of the body, is last shed, 

 and in very old animals is not always annually renewed. The moulting of 

 the pelage takes place later in the old and lean animals than in the others, 

 and nearly a month later in the cows than in the bulls, so that in June, while 

 the greater part are smooth and dark, a few are conspicuous among the 

 others from still retaining their old and faded coats of the previous year. 



The buffalo is quite nomadic in its habits, the same individuals roaming, in 

 the course of the year, over vast areas of country. Their wauderings, how- 

 ever, are generally in search of food or water, or result from the persecutions 

 of human foes. The fires that annually sweep over immense tracks of the 

 grassy plains, sometimes destroying the herbaceous vegetation over thou- 

 sands of square miles in continuous area, often force the buffaloes, besides 

 inspiring them with terror, to make long journeys in search of food. Occa- 

 sionally the ravages of the grasshoppers cause similar migrations, these pests 

 leaving large sections of country as bare of vegetation as it is when swept 

 by a prairie fire. The habit of the buffaloes, too, of keeping together in im- 

 mense herds renders a slow but constant movement necessary in order to find 

 food, that of a single locality soon becoming exhausted. They are also 

 accustomed to make frequent shorter journeys to obtain water. The streams 

 throughout the range of the buffalo run mainly in an east and west direc- 



