NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 27 



EUROPEAN BISON: BULL. 



and corrals. There are other corrals, and a shelter -hed, 

 at the Buffalo Entrance. 



The American Bison, or Buffalo, (B. americanus), is the 

 largest and the best known of all North American hoofed 

 animals. What was once the universal herd, which occu- 

 pied the whole pasture region of the West, was cut in twain 

 in 1867, by the building of the first trans-continental rail- 

 way. The great "southern herd," of several millions of 

 animals, was destroyed by skin hunters during the years 

 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874, and the practical extinction of 

 the northern herd was accomplished between 1880 and 

 1884. 



At present there are but two herds of wild bison in 

 existence. The largest band, now containing by estimate 

 about 300 individuals, inhabits a wide stretch of barren 

 and inhospitable territory southwest of Great Slave Lake. 

 About twenty head remain in the Yellowstone Park, more 

 than nine-tenths of the original herd having been slaught- 

 ered by poachers since 1890. There are now about 2000 

 bison alive in captivity, chiefly in large private game pre- 

 serves. 



Usually bison calves are born in May, June, and July. 

 Full maturity is not reached until the end of the seventh 

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

 have attained their full semi-circular curve. Like all thick- 

 haired animals of the temperate zone, the American bison 



