442 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



the furry robe and one-fifth from skins classed as " hides," which were 

 either taken in the summer season, when the hair was very short or 

 almost absent, and used for the manufacture of leather and leather 

 goods, or else were the poorly furred skins of old bulls. 



The season for robe-taking was from October 15 to February 15, and 

 a little later in the more northern latitudes. In the United States the 

 hair of the buffalo was still rather short np to the first of November; 

 but by the middle of November it was about at its finest as to length, 

 density, color, and freshness. The Montana hunters considered tbat 

 the finest robes were those taken from November 15 to December 15. 

 Before the former date the hair had not quite attaiued perfection in 

 length, and after the latter it began to show wear and lose color. 

 The winter storms of December and January began to leave their mark 

 upon the robes by the 1st of February, chiefly by giving the hair a 

 bleached and weathered appearance. By the middle of February the 

 pelage was decidedly on the wane, and the robe hunter was also losing 

 his energy. Often, however, the hunt was kept up until the middle of 

 March, until either the deterioration of the quality of the robe, the mi- 

 gration of the herds northward, or the hunter's longing to return " to 

 town n and " 3lean up," brought the hunt to an end. 



On the northern buffalo range, the hunter, or " buffalo skinner," 

 removed the robe in the following manner: 



When the operator had to do his work alone, which was almost 

 always the case, he made haste to skin his victims while they were yet 

 warm, if possible, and before rigor mortis had set in ; but, at all haz- 

 ards, before they should become hard frozen. With a warm buffalo he 

 could easily do his work single-handed, but with one rigid or frozen 

 stiff' it was a very different matter. 



His first act was to heave the carcass over until it lay fairly upon its 

 back, with its feet up in the air. To keep it in that position he wrenched 

 the head violently around to one side, close against the shoulder, at the 

 point where the hump was highest and the tendency to roll the greatest, 

 and used it very effectually as a chock to keep the body from rolling 

 back upon its side. Having fixed the carcass in position he drew forth 

 his steel, sharpened his sharp-pointed " ripping-knife," and at once pro- 

 ceeded to make all the opening cuts in the skin. Each leg was girdled 

 to the bone, about 8 inches above the hoof, and the skin of the leg ripped 

 open from that point along the inside to the median line of the body. 

 A long, straight cut was then made along the middle of the breast and 

 abdomen, from the root of the tail to tbe chin. In skinning cows and 

 young animals, nothing but the skin of the forehead and nose was left 

 on the skull, the skin of the throat and cheeks being left on the hide; 

 but in skinning old bulls, on whose heads the skin was very thick and 

 tough, the whole head was left unskinned, to save labor and time. The 

 skin of the neck was severed in a circle around the neck, just behind 

 the ears. It is these huge heads of bushy brovm hair, looking, at a lit- 



