FAUNA OF NEBRASKA. 117 



CHAPTER XI. 



FAUNA OF NEBRASKA.— VERTEBRATES. 



Buffalo. — Deer Family. — Carnivekous Animals. — Insect Eating 

 Animals. — Birds. — The Leading Varieties — Reptiles. — List of our Reptiles. 

 Fish Culture. — List of Known Nebraska Fishes. 



BEFORE the advent of the white man, Nebraska was a par- 

 adise for wild animals. Game of many kinds was amazingly 

 abundant. Even the Indian could not keep it within due limits; it 

 took immense numbers of the carniverous animals to do this. 



Mammals. 



Here was the empire of the buffalo, (Bos Ameritamislf* The 

 early settlers and the old freighters across the plains tell wonderful 

 stories of the immense herds of buffalo which they so often en- 

 countered. Had I not myself, years ago, found large herds in places 

 where there are now flourishing villages, these stories would appear 

 like exaggerations. It is to be feared that the days of the buffalo 

 are numbered. What the Indian alone could not accomplish, has 

 been done by the remorseless war made on the buffalo by the white 

 man. Now he is rarely found within the State. If he is perpetu- 

 ated it will be done by domesticating him. Already some domesti- 

 cated buffalo are found among the cattle herds in western Nebraska. 

 Whether this experiment will be successful cannot yet be deter- 

 mined. No animal deserves to be perpetuated more than the 

 buffalo. Buffalo robes are among the most important of commer- 

 cial articles. Who has not been made comfortable by one? The 

 buffalo is as readily tamed as the ox, and can be reared with as 

 little difricultv. He is exceedingly hardy. He might be profitably 

 reared for the pecuniary value of his hide. His flesh, which is con- 

 sidered coarse, would no doubt be refined bv civilized environment. 

 Even the buffalo's milk is a fair substitute for that of the domestic 

 cow.f 



^It will l»e understood that I only follow popular usage in calling this ai Imal u buffalo. It is 

 a bison. No true buffalo lias a hump on lii> back. 



tSee an exhaustive treatise on the buffalo. In Hayden's Report for 1875. 



