212 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



attempt to defend themselves, but almost invariably take to 

 flight. They are extremely fleet, and their sense of smell is 

 so acute, that they discover an enemy at a great distance, 

 so that it is diflScult to get near them. They are frequently 

 hunted by the natives, who live principally on their flesh. 

 When the hunters kill an old dam, they pay no attention 

 to the calf, as it is sure to remain by its dead mother. 

 Instances have been known of a mother entering the town 

 of Cincinnati, followed by its calves. Many of them fall 

 victims to wolves and grizzly bears. Their beef is of an 

 excellent quality, and of a very superior flavour." 

 Hunting the Hunting the Bison is both a popular sport 

 Bison. and a lucrative commercial enterprise. The 

 Indians hunt them for their skins, which they sell as "Bufialo 

 robes," the Bison being commonly called a Buffalo by them, 

 as well as for food. The Rev. J. G. Wood says, "The 

 hunters take advantage of the gregarious instincts of this 

 animal, and hunt them when they are collected together in 

 their vast herds, which blacken the face of the prairie for 

 miles. Sometimes they form in line, and drive the herd to 

 the edge of some tall cliff, over which they fall in hundreds, 

 those behind pushing on those in the van; or sometimes 

 they form a large circle, driving the animals into a helpless 

 and leaderless mass, into which the hunters spring, leaving 

 their horses, and treading with the skill of rope-dancers on 

 the backs of the bewildered bisons, whom they slaughter as 

 they pass, stepping from one to the other, and driving the 

 sharp blade of their spear through the spine of the animal 

 whose back they have just quitted. When only wounded 

 the Bison is a most dangerous antagonist, and rushes on its 

 enemy with the most determined ferocity." 



The Eastern Bison lives in the forests of Bialowesha in 

 Lithuania under the protection of the Czar of Russia. The 

 numbers are much smaller than those of North-America but 

 they are said to be more fierce. 



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