102 



OEDEKS OF MAMMALS— HOOPED ANIMALS 



entire continent of North America, and its num- 

 bers far exceeded those of any other large mam- 

 mal of recent times. 



Not only did it inhabit the plains of the West, 

 but also the hilly hard-wood forests of the Ap- 

 palachian region, the northern plains of Mexico, 

 the "Great American Desert," the Rocky Moun- 

 tain parks on the continental divide to an eleva- 

 tion of 11,000 feet, and the bleak and barren 

 plains of western Canada, up to the land of the 

 musk-ox. From north to south it ranged 3,600 

 miles, and from east to west about 2,000 miles. 



The centre of abundance of the Buffalo was 

 the Great Plains lying between the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and the Mississippi valley. When the 

 herds assembled there, they covered the earth 

 seemingly as with one vast, brown buffalo-robe. 



It is safe to say that no man ever saw in one 

 day a greater panorama of animal life than that 

 unrolled before Colonel R. I. Dodge, in May, 

 1871, when he drove for twenty-five miles along 

 the Arkansas River, through an unbroken herd 

 of Buffaloes. By my calculation, he actually saw 

 on that memorable day nearly half a million 

 head. It was the great southern herd, on its 

 annual spring migration northward, and it must 

 have contained a total of about three and one- 

 half million animals. At that date, the northern 

 herd contained about one and one-half millions. 

 In those days, mighty hosts of Buffaloes fre- 

 quently stopped or derailed railway trains, 

 and obstructed the progress of boats on the Mis- 

 souri and Yellowstone rivers. 



In 1869, the general herd was divided, by the 

 completion of the Union Pacific Railway, into 

 a "northern herd" and "southern herd." The 

 latter was savagely attacked by hide hunters in 

 the autumn of 1871, and by 1875, with the ex- 

 ception of three very small bunches, it had 

 been annihilated. 



In 1880, the completion of the Northern Pacific 

 Railway led to a grand attack upon the northern 

 herd. In October, 1883, the last thousand head 

 were killed in southwestern Dakota, by Sitting 

 Bull and about a thousand Indians from the 

 Standing Rock agency, leaving only the Yellow- 

 stone Park bunch of two hundred head, a band 

 of forty in Custer County, Montana, and the 

 Great Slave Lake herd of about five hundred 

 head. 



The largest Buffalo ever measured by a nat- 



uralist is the old bull which was shot (by the 

 author) on December 6, 1886, in Montana, and 

 which now stands as the most prominent figure 

 in the mounted group in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum. A very good picture of him 

 adorns the ten-dollar bill of our national currency. 

 His dimensions in the flesh were as follows: 



Ft. In. 



Height at shoulders 5 8 



Length of head and bodv, to root of 



tail 10 2 



Depth of chest 3 10 



Girth, behind forelegs 8 4 



Circumference of muzzle, behind nos- 

 trils 2 2 



Length of tail vertebrae 1 3 



Length of hair on shoulders 6£ 



" " " " forehead 1 4 



" " chin beard 11 J 



Estimated weight 2,100 pounds. 



The shoulder height of wild Buffaloes of vari- 

 ous ages, and both sexes, as taken by me on the 

 Montana buffalo range, are as follows: 



Ft. In. 



Male calf, 4 months old 2 8 



" one year old 3 5 



" two years old 4 2 



" five years old (average size) 5 6 



Female, three years old 4 5 



" eight years old 4 10 



The Buffalo begins to shed its faded and weath- 

 er-beaten winter coat of hair in March, and dur- 

 ing April, May and June it presents a forlorn ap- 

 pearance. The old hair hangs to the body like 

 fluttering rags, and at last, when it finally dis- 

 appears, the body is almost bare. At this time 

 the flies are very troublesome. By October, 

 the new coat is of good length and color, and in 

 November and December, it is at its finest. The 

 animal is then warmly clad for the worst storms 

 of winter, and the shaggy head is so well pro- 

 tected that the animal faces all storms instead 

 of drifting before them. A bull Buffalo in per- 

 fect pelage is an animal of really majestic pres- 

 ence, and is far more imposing in appearance 

 than many animals of larger bulk, but less hair. 



The calves are born in May and June, and at 

 first are of a brick-red color. This coat is shed 

 in October, except in calves born late in the sea- 

 son. 



The flesh of the Buffalo so closely resembles 

 domestic beef of the same age and quality that it 



