546 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



that region at that season. From this materiel we now have on exhi- 

 bition besides the group of buffaloes, a family group of antelope, an- 

 other of coyotes, and another of prairie dogs, all with natural sur- 

 roundings. 



III. The Mounted Group in the National Museum. 



The result of the Smithsonian expedition for bison which appeals 

 most strongly to the general public is the huge group of six choice 

 specimens of both sexes and all ages, mounted with natural surround- 

 ings, and displayed in a superb mahogany case. The dimensions of 

 the group are as follows: Length, 16 feet; width, 12 feet, and height, 

 10 feet. The subjoined illustration is a very fair representation of the 

 principal one of its four sides, and the following admirable description 

 (by Mr. Harry P. Godwin), from the Washington Star of March 10, 

 1888, is both graphic and accurate : 



A SCENE FROM MONTANA— SIX OF MR. HORNADAY'S BUFFALOES FORM A PICTURESQUE 

 GROUP — A BIT OF THE WILD WEST REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM- 

 SOMETHING NOVEL IN THE WAY OF TAXIDERMY— REAL BUFFALO-GRASS, REAL MON- 

 TANA DIRT, AND REAL BUFFALOES. 



A little bit of Montana — a small square patch from the wildest part of the wild 

 West — has been transferred to the National Museum. It is so little that Montana 

 will never miss it, but enough to enable one who has the faintest glimmer of imagi- 

 nation to see it all for himself— the hummocky prairie, the buffalo-grass, the sage- 

 brush, and the buffalo. It is as though a little group of buffalo that have come to 

 drink at a pool had been suddenly struck motionless by some magic spell, each in a 

 natural attitude, and then the section of prairie, pool, buffalo, and all had been care- 

 fully cut out and brought to the National Museum. All this is in a huge glass case, 

 the largest ever made for the Museum. This case and the space about it, at the 

 south end of the south hall, has been inclosed by high screens for many days while 

 the taxidermist and his assistants have been at work. The finishing touches were 

 put on to-day, and the screens will be removed Monday, exposing to view what is 

 regarded as a triumph of the taxidermist's art. The group, with its accessories, 

 has been prepared so as to tell in an attractive way to the general visitor to the 

 Museum the story of the buffalo, but care has been taken at the same time to secure 

 an accuracy of detail that will satisfy the critical scrutiny of the most technical 

 naturalist. 



THE ACCESSORIES. 



The pool of water is a typical alkaline water-hole, such as are found on the great 

 northern range of bison, and are resorted to for water by wild animals in the fall 

 when the small streams are dry. The pool is in a depression in the dry bed of a coule'e 

 or small creek. A little mound that rises beside the creek has been partially washed 

 away by the water, leaving a crumbling bank, which shows the strata of the earth, a 

 very thin layer of vegetable soil, beneath a stratum of grayish earth, and a layer of 

 gravel, from which protrude a fossil bone or two. The whole bank shows the marks 

 of erosion by water. Near by the pool a small section of the bank has fallen. A 

 buffalo trail passes by the pool in front. This is a narrow path, well beaten down, 

 depressed, and bare of grass. Such paths were made by herds of bison all over their 

 pasture region as they traveled down water-courses, in single file, searching for water. 

 In the grass some distance from the pool lie the bleaching skulls of two buffalo 

 who have fallen, victims to hunters who have cruelly lain in wait to get a shot at the 



