NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK, 27 
EUROPEAN BISON: BULL. 
and corrals. There are other corrals, and a shelter shed, 
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 ocecu- 
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 
