THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 399 



positions, with their noses pushed under the grass and their eyes strained 

 upon us, as we dismount from our horses aud are passing around them. 

 From this fixed position they are sure not to move until hands are laid 

 upon them, and then for the shins of a novice we can extend our sym- 

 pathy ; or if he can preserve the skin on his bones from the furious but- 

 tings of its head, we know how to congratulate him on his signal success 

 and good luck. 



" In these desperate struggles for a moment, the little thing is con- 

 quered, and makes no further resistance. And I have often, in concur- 

 rence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the 

 eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils, after 

 which I have, with my hunting companions, rode several miles into our 

 encampment with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my 

 horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct 

 would attach it to the company of its dam. 



"This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with 

 in the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard of it, 

 and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear testimony 

 to the fact from the numerous instances which I have witnessed since I 

 came into the country. During the time that I resided at this post 

 [mouth of the Teton River] in the spring of the year, on my way up the 

 river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the fur com- 

 pany's men) in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these little 

 prisoners, which sometimes followed for 5 or 6 miles close to our horse's 

 heels, and even into the fur company's fort, and into the stable where 

 our horses were led. In this way, before I left the headwaters of the 

 Missouri, I think we had collected about a dozen, which Mr. Laidlaw 

 was successfully raising with the aid of a good milch cow.* 



It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were 

 exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited 

 the trait described. Such instances occurred only when buffaloes ex- 

 isted in such countless numbers that man's presence and influence had 

 not affected the character of the animal in the least. No such instances 

 of innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest 

 calf. The war of extermination, aud the struggle for life and security 

 have instilled into the calf, even from its birth, a mortal fear of both 

 men and horses, and the instinct to fly for life. The calf captured by 

 our party was not able to run, but in the most absurd manner it butted 

 our horses as soon as they came near enough, and when Private Moran 

 attempted to lay hold of the little fellow it turned upon him, struck him 

 in the stomach with its head, and sent him sprawling into the sage- 

 brush. If it had only possessed the strength, it would have led us a 

 lively chase. 



During 188G four other buffalo calves were either killed or caught by 

 the cowboys on the Missouri- Yellowstone divide, in the Dry Creek region. 



* North American Indians, I, 255. 



