THE AMERICAN BUFFALO. 



{Bison americanus.) 



The supremacy of man over the lower 

 forms of animal life has no better illustra- 

 tion than that furnished by the rapid ex- 

 termination of the American Buffalo 

 (Bison or Bos americanus.) 



Much less than a century ago, in im- 

 mense herds, this animal swarmed over 

 the prairies of the United States, unmo- 

 lested except by the Indians who sought 

 it for food and for the economic value 

 of its hide. It was free to seek those lo- 

 calities which would furnish it the best 

 and most abundant food supply. Even as 

 late as the sixties of the last century the 

 American Buffalo was represented by 

 thousands upon thousands of individuals, 

 whose numerous paths leading from the 

 feeding grounds to a supply of fresh 

 water were known to the frontiersman 

 as "Buffalo trails." "In 1889 Mr. William 

 T. Hornaday estimated the number of 

 survivors to be eight hundred and thirty- 

 five, inclusive of the two hundred then 

 living in the Yellowstone Park under the 

 protection of the government." 



The passing from the face of the earth 

 of this, the largest of the native animals 

 of North America, has taken place within 

 the last thirty years and this extermina- 

 tion may be laid at the door of the zealous 

 hunter and trapper who systematically 

 shot and destroyed them in order to ob- 

 tain the small profit that their skins would 

 bring. It is said that one of the railroads 

 crossing the continent from the Mississip- 

 pi river to the Pacific coast carried about 

 two hundred thousand skins within a year 

 after it was opened to traffic. One writer 

 records the reception of over forty thou- 

 sand pelts by a single firm in the year 

 1875. Many instances of the wanton 

 butchery of this noble and useful animal 

 might be mentioned, but it is much better 

 illustrated by the absence of the Buffalo 

 at the present time, from all localities, ex- 

 cept where it is protected by the same 

 hand which has brought about its de- 

 struction. In 1858, when a party was tra- 



versing the country by wagon train from 

 the state of Missouri to Mexico, they 

 were continually surrounded by large 

 herds of Buffaloes. An eye witness said, 

 "In bands, in masses, in hosts, the 

 shaggy, black creatures thundered along 

 in front of us, sometimes from north to 

 south, sometimes from south to north ; 

 for forty consecutive hours we had them 

 in sight, thousands upon thousands, tens 

 of thousands upon tens of thousands, 

 an innumerable mass of untamed ani- 

 mals, the flesh of which, as we believed, 

 was sufficient to provide the wigwams 

 of the Indians unto all eternity." 



The American Buffalo belongs to the 

 ox tribe of the family of horned animals 

 (Bovidse). Among its immediate rela- 

 tives are the musk ox of the Arctic re- 

 gions of America, the yak of the moun- 

 tainous regions of Tibet, the zebu, an East 

 Indian species, the Cape buffalo, a fero- 

 cious animal of the central and southern 

 portions of Africa, the Indian buffalo liv- 

 ing in southern Asia and the European 

 bison. 



The European bison, like its American 

 relative, has suffered from the hunter and 

 the advance of civilization and is practi- 

 cally exterminated. It now exists only in 

 a few forests on the Caucasus and in the 

 famous forest and game preserve of the 

 Czars of Russia called Lithuania. Here, 

 protected by stringent laws through sev- 

 eral centuries, the European bison has 

 been saved from absolute extermination. 

 "In former times this was different, for 

 the bison ranged all over Europe and a 

 large portion of Asia." In the time of 

 Caesar, according to his own record, they 

 abounded in Germany and Belgium. 



So it is with the American Buffalo. 

 Were it not for government and private 

 preserves this, one of the largest of living 

 quadrupeds, would be unknown to future 

 generations except by museum specimens. 

 Correctly speaking, the American species 

 should be called Bison. So universal, 



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