398 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887 



By the 1st of August the red hair on the body begins to fall off in 

 small patches, and the growth of fine, new, dark hair seems to actually 

 crowd off tbe old. As is the case with the ad nit animals, the shortest 

 hair is the first to be shed, but the change of coat takes place in about 

 half the time that it occupies in the older animals. 



By the 1st of October the transformation is complete, and not even 

 a patch of the old red hair remains upon the new suit of brown. This 

 is far from being the case with the old bulls and cows, for even up to 

 the last week in October we found them with an occasional patch of 

 che old hair still clinging to the new, on the back or shoulders. 



Like most young animals, the calf of the buffalo is very easily tamed, 

 especially if taken when oniy a few weeks old. The one captured in 

 Montana by the writer, resisted at first as stoutly as it was able, by 

 butting with its head, but after we had tied its legs together and car- 

 ried it to camp, across a horse, it made up its mind to yield gracefully 

 to the inevitable, and from that moment became perfectly docile. It 

 very soon learned to drink milk in the most satisfactory manner, and 

 adapted itself to its new surroundings quite as readily as any domestic 

 calf would have done. Its only cry was a low-pitched, pig-like grunt 

 through the nose, which was uttered only when hungry or thirsty. 



I have been told by old frontiersmen and buffalo-hunters that it used 

 to be a common practice for a hunter who had captured a young calf 

 to make it follow him by placing one of his fingers in its mouth, and 

 allowing the calf to suck at it for a moment. Often a calf has been 

 induced in this way to follow a horseman for miles, and eventually to 

 join his camp outfit. It is said that the same resn.lt has been accom- 

 plished with calves by breathing a few times into their nostrils. In 

 this connection Mr. Oatlin's observations on the habits of buffalo calves 

 are most interesting. 



" In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their 

 calves are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused 

 with the curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thun- 

 dering confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of 

 these animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their 

 dams ; and being left behind by the throng, and the swift-passing 

 hunters, they endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceed- 

 ingly put to it on a level prairie, where naught can be seen but the 

 short grass of 6 or 8 inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild 

 sage a few inches higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, 

 and dropping on their knees, will push their noses under it and into 

 the grass, where they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagin- 

 ing themselves securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight 

 upon their hind feet, and can easily be seen at several miles distance. 

 It is a familiar amusement with us, accustomed to these scenes, to re- 

 treat back over the ground where we have just escorted the herd, and 

 approach these little trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their 



