THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 433 



their calves in the presence of danger, although in most cases they left 

 their offspring to their fate. During a hunt for live buffalo calves, un- 

 dertaken by Mr. 0. J. Jones of Garden City, Kans., in 188G, and very 

 graphically described by a staff correspondent of the American Field in 

 a series of articles in that journal under the title of " The Last of the 

 Buffalo,'' the following remarkable incident occurred:* 



11 The last calf was caught by Carter, who roped it neatly as Mr. 

 Jones cat it out of the herd and turned it toward him. This was a fine 

 heifer calf, and was apparently the idol of her mother's heart, for the 

 latter came very near making a casualty the price of the capture. As 

 soon as the calf was roped, the old cow left the herd and charged on 

 Carter viciously, as he bent over his victim. Seeing the danger, Mr. 

 Jones rode in at just the nick of time, and drove the cow off for a mo- 

 ment; but she returned again and again, and finally began charging 

 him whenever he came near; so that, much as he regretted it, he had 

 to shoot her with his revolver, which he did, killing her almost immedi- 

 ately." 



The mothers of the thirteen other calves that were caught by Mr. 

 Jones's party allowed their offspring to be "cut out," lassoed, and tied, 

 while they themselves devoted all their energies to leaving them as far 

 behind as possible. 



(5) Affection. — While the buffalo cows manifested a fair degree of af- 

 fection for their young, the adult bulls of the herd often displayed a 

 sense of responsibility for the safety of the calves that was admirable, 

 to say the least. Those who have had opportunities for watching large 

 herds tell us that whenever wolves approached and endeavored to reach 

 a calf the old bulls would immediately interpose and drive the enemy 

 away. It was a well-defined habit for the bulls to form the outer circle 

 of every small group or section of a great herd, with the calves in the 

 center, well guarded from the wolves, which regarded them as their most 

 choice prey. 



Colonel Dodge records a remarkable incident in illustration of the 

 manner in which the bull buffaloes protected the calves of the herd.t 



"The duty of protecting the calves devolved almost entirely on the 

 bulls. I have seen evidences of this many times, but the most remark- 

 able instance I have ever heard of was related to me by an army sur- 

 geon, who was an eye-witness. 



" He was one evening returning to camp after a day's hunt, when his 

 attention was attracted by the curious action of a little knot of six or 

 eight buffalo. Approaching sufficiently near to see clearly, he discov- 

 ered that this little knot were all bulls, standing in a close circle, with 

 their heads outwards, while in a concentric circle at some 12 or 15 paces 

 distant sat, licking their chaps in impatient expectancy, at least a dozen 

 large gray wolves (excepting mau, the most dangerous enemy of the 

 buftalo). 



"American Field, July '24, 1886, p. 78. 

 t Plains of the Great West, p. 125. 

 H. Mis. 600, pt. 2 28 



