The Bison and Ox Family. 327 



Today the "Buffalo," as the American Bison is gen- 

 erally called, is little more than a memory. Outside of a 

 herd of five hundred "Wood Buffalo" lately reported to 

 have been discovered in New Mexico, there are only two 

 herds of wild Bison in existence on this continent; about 

 twenty head remain in Yellowstone Park, and a herd of 

 about three hundred inhabits the stretch of barren terri- 

 tory southwest of the Great Slave Lake. 



In addition to these there are possibly two thousand 

 Bison living in captivity in zoological parks, and large pri- 

 vate game preserves, in different sections of North Amer- 

 ica ; of these, forty-two are at the New York Zoological Park 

 in the Bronx; and thirty -seven are in the twelve square 

 miles of grazing ground, fenced in by the government in 

 the Wichita Forest and Game Preserve, when the New 

 York Zoological Society, in 1906, presented to the United 

 States government the fifteen Bison which formed the 

 nucleus for this herd. 



The Bisons breed in captivity about as regularly as 

 domestic cattle, and though inclined to be stubborn, are 

 mild in disposition. The calves are born in May, June and 

 July, and full maturity is reached at the end of the sev- 

 enth year, when the horns of the male — at first a straight 

 spike — have attained their whole semi-circular curve. Like 

 all thick haired animals in the temperate zone, the Bison 

 sheds its coat in the spring, and does not regain full pelage 

 until October or November. 



Contrary to the method employed in dressing cattle, 

 the skin of the ' ' Buffalo ' ' was parted along the spine ; the 

 chief articles of commerce obtained from it being the skin, 

 horns, tongue and tallow; for only the choicest parts of 

 the carcass were removed when the animal was plentiful, 

 the great bulk of it being left to rot on the plains. 



As far back as 1840, the American Fur Company's 

 agents sent into St. Louis sixty-seven thousand "Buffalo 

 robes," and in 1848 a himdred thousand "robes" and 

 twenty-five thousand "Buffalo" tongues were received at 

 St. Louis ; the shipments to New York in the seventies an- 

 nually exceeded these figures, ■ and the writer distinctly 

 remembers when "Buffalo robes" sold for seven and eight 

 dollars each, and when a good "Buffalo" coat could be 

 bought for from fifteen to twenty dollars. Those who know 



