162 



THE GAME BREEDER 



The Largest Herd of Buffalo. 



The Canadian Government is meeting 

 with signal success in its efforts to pre- 

 serve the buffalo from the swift extinc- 

 tion which threatened it a few years ago. 

 This is shown in a report on the growth 

 of the herd at Wainwright Buffalo Park, 

 Alberta, just issued by J. B, Harkin, 

 Dominion Parks Commissioner. 



The report shows that in April, 1909, 

 the herd numbered 402. Since then it 

 has gradually increased at the rate of 

 about 200 a year, until today it numbers 

 2,077. 



History of the Herd. 



The history of this herd, now the 

 largest in the world, dates back to 1873, 

 when a Pend o'Oreille Indian captured 

 four little bison calves — two bulls and 

 two heifers — by cutting them out of a 

 stampeded herd on the Flathead reserva- 

 tion in Montana. In accordance with a 

 peculiar characteristic, often noticed by 

 old plainsmen, these young creatures 

 obediently followed the horses of the 

 hunters who had slain or driven off their 

 mothers. 



The Indian in question gave them to 

 the Mission of St. Ignatius, where they 

 were kept as pets and became as do- 

 mesticated as ordinary- cattle. When the 

 heifers were four years old, each had a 

 calf. From that time on -they gradually 

 increased in number, until, in 1884, there 

 were thirteen head,. and finding the care 

 of them too great a tax, decided to sell 

 them. Ten head were bought for $250 

 apiece by C. A. Allard and Alichel Pablo, 

 who were ranching on the reservation, 

 and were shrewd enough to see that 

 specimens of what was even then almost 

 an extinct animal would eventually be- 

 come very valuable. 



Made Them a Fortune. 



The herd increased under their care- 

 ful supervision, and in a few years it 

 became possible to sell specimens at high 

 prices. Some idea of the average rate 

 of increase may be deduced from the 

 observed fact that half the cows give 

 birth to calves every year, while twin 

 calves are not uncommon. As a rule the 

 bison calf is a very hardy creature. 



There are instances of the Pablo-AUard 

 calves finding their feet in less than a 

 minute after birth and showing fight 

 within half an hour. 



In 1906 the Hon. Frank Oliver, then 

 Minister of the Interior, obtained for the 

 Dominion Government an option on the 

 600 unsold head belonging to Pablo and 

 Allard, and eventually they were all 

 bought for $200,000. The "round-up" 

 lasted two months, and was carried out 

 by 75 cowboys, and was accomplished 

 with a loss of less than 1 per cent. 



Since it became the property of the 

 Canadian Government this great herd 

 has fared well in the new National Park 

 at Wainwright. The park is becoming a 

 favorite resort of the traveller. It has 

 an area of 150 square miles and is se- 

 curely enclosed with a high fence of 

 wire. 



Elk in Canada. 



I have ten elk, three of which were 

 young of last spring. There are two 

 stags and eight does. 



T. B. Macaulay. 



Many More Quail. 



Sorry I could not Attend the dinner 

 and hope I will be able to be there next 

 time. I received several thousand more 

 quail yesterday and they are dandies. I 

 know how to handle quail and keep them 

 . in fine condition. It has cost a lot of 

 time, money and worry, but I feel that 

 it was well worth" while. 



W. J. Mackensen, 



Naturalist. 



"» Yardley, Penna. 



. • 



Silent Crows. 



How to Make Them Really Useful. 



By Hol lister Sage. 



[The warning against crows cannot be 

 sounded too loud or too often. — Editor.] 



It is out of season for corn-planting, 

 but not for scarecrows. No scarecrow 

 is so useful as a dead crow properly pre- 

 pared. There are reasons why crows 

 should be shot in winter instead of 

 spring. The humane reason is that some- 

 times a nest full of young birds starve 

 to death. A crow shot in corn-planting 



