34 GAME ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



rowed to the following boundaries : the plains of Texas on the 

 south to beyond the British line, from the Missouri and upper 

 Mississippi on the east to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas 

 on the west. Every portion of this immense area was either the 

 fixed home of the Bison, or might be expected to have each year 

 one or more visits from the migrating millions. 



The latest determination of the range of the few remaining 

 Bison, 1883, fixes it mainly within the limits of the United States, 

 and confines it to Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and the Indian Terri- 

 tory on the south, and Montana and Dakota on the north. The 

 rapid and appalling diminution in their numbers and range is owing 

 entirely to their wanton and useless destruction by skin-hunters 

 and pseudo sportsmen.* 



The general ensemble of the Bison is so well known to all, 

 that a description is hardly necessary. Owing to his g^eat size, 

 shaggy mane and hump, vicious eye, and sullen demeanor, he 

 possesses the appearance of being a. formidable adversary, but in 

 truth, he is the mildest, most inoffensive, stubborn and stupid' of 

 all the western mammals. If not alarmed by sight of the ene- 

 my, he will stupidly watch his companions fall one by one, until 

 the whole herd are killed or wounded. When in their migra- 

 tions, they select the most easy and available routes, and a well 

 defined buffalo trail will always be found the best path for the 

 horseman. In crossing streams they show little instinct and no 

 intelligence ; the foremost plunge recklessly in and, where quick- 

 sands exist, or the current is too swift, many perish, but their fate 

 does not deter those behind from attempting the passage, and 

 whole herds may be annihilated in this way. Although they fol- 

 low in migrating the easiest routes, yet they by no means lack the 

 ability to travel over rough or bad ground, and can descend or 

 ascend a cliff, which for man to attempt, on a horse or off one 

 would be certain destruction. The habits of the Bison are almost 

 identical with those of domestic stock ; very little fighting, how- 

 ever, takes place among the bulls, even during the rutting season, 

 which occurs in July. The young are brought forth in April, and 

 the female bears one calf ; the mother seems to evince little affec-> 

 tion for her offspring, and its protection devolves almost wholly 

 jpon the bulls. At the least fright, she will scamper off, utterly 



* It is estimated that over thirty thousand buffaloes were slaugh- 

 tered in the Yellowstone region during the season of 1882-83. 



