THE BUFFALO 



101 



park and garden contains as many head as it 

 can properly accommodate. It is useless to give 

 a list of these animals, because owners and fig- 

 ures are constantly changing. 



The Buffalo breeds readily in captivity, and 

 is easily cared for. The majority of captive 

 animals are reasonably tractable, but occasion- 

 ally an individual becomes savage and danger- 

 ous, and requires either solitary confinement or 



contains one hundred and twenty-eight head of 

 pure-blood animals, and the number is steadily 

 increasing. The largest herd on public exhibition 

 is that of the New York Zoological Park, which 

 in 1903 contained thirty-four head of piu-e-breed 

 animals representing all ages, presented by the 

 Hon. William C. Whitney from his October 

 Mountain preserve. 



The value of a full-grown Buffalo cow in New 



. R. Sanbokn, Photo 



AMERICAN BISON, OR BUFFALO. 



An adult male, " Apache," of the Whitney herd. Photographed in the New York Zoological Park, near the end 



of the shedding season. 



shooting. The best place in which to exhibit 

 a savage Buffalo is a museum. Full-grown 

 males must be watched closely for signs of per- 

 manent ill temper, and a savage Buffalo should 

 be treated the same as a tiger. Frequently the 

 first serious sign of danger in a Buffalo is the 

 murder of a weaker member of the herd. 



The largest herd in a fenced game preserve 

 is that of Blue Mountain Park, in New Hamp- 

 shire, established by the late .Austin Corbin. It 



York is from $400 to $.500, and an adult bull 

 is worth about .$100 less. Excei^tionally fine 

 mounted heads are worth from $300 to $.500. 



The Buffalo was first seen by white men in 

 Anahuac, the Aztec capital of Mexico, in 1521, 

 when Cortez and his men paid their first visit 

 to the menagerie of King Montezuma. In its 

 wild state it was first seen in southern Texas, 

 in 1.530, by a ship-wrecked Spanish sailor. The 

 Buffalo once roamed over fully one-third of the 



