422 



RECREATION. 



plains of those remote days, the caricatures 

 of our living species. Like any human 

 child, Mother Nature's first attempts at 

 modeling were crude affairs, compared 

 with the refined work of her present art. 

 It took ages of experiment to produce the 

 dainty, swift, and graceful prong-horned 

 antelope (Antilocapra americana) but it is 

 a masterpiece of art. There are still about 

 500 of these gentle little citizens in the 

 Park ; but a fence is absolutely necessary 

 for their preservation, and should be built 

 to prevent them from straying over the 

 Northern boundary, as they do, to be im- 

 mediately killed by game hogs. 

 The bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep 



this country, and yet the buffaloes thrived 

 and waxed strong. 



Buffalo heads are in great demand. 

 Fine ones command extravagant prices. 

 Buffalo skins are eagerly sought by 

 museums and wealthy people, and I was 

 told last summer that in the neighborhood 

 of the Park purchasers had paid as high as 

 $2 a pound for buffalo steak.* The very 

 bones of these animals are in demand, for 

 anatomical specimens for museums ; hence 

 a wild buffalo is looked on as a small 

 fortune walking around without an owner. 

 Is it any wonder, then, that skin hunters, 

 adventurers, and settlers have turned 

 poachers at the sight of these poor beasts? 



GULLS WERE PRESENT WHEREVER THERE WAS WATER. 



(Ovis cervina) can be seen by climbing 

 Mt. Evarts, or some other high peak of the 

 Park. They have been so persecuted that 

 it will be long before they will frequent 

 lower ground. There are possibly 200 in the 

 Park. With care this number can be in- 

 creased. Inasmuch as both of these crea- 

 tures will soon be exterminated elsewhere, 

 it is to be hoped every care will be taken 

 by our rich government to protect the sur- 

 vivors here. 



We ask why the herd of Yellowstone 

 buffalo (Bison americanus) has been so 

 sadly reduced, and we are told that griz- 

 zlies and hard winters have destroyed 

 them. For thousands of years grizzlies 

 and hard winters were features of 



These people had no sentiment to restrain 

 them, and the slight penalties for poaching 

 were easily evaded. 



In 1892 Captain George Alexander re- 

 ported a herd of 400 bison in the Park, 20 

 per cent, of which weie yearlings, and to- 

 day there are but 29 ! By introducing 

 some new blood among these 29, to coun- 

 teract the evil effects of too close inter- 

 breeding, and enforcing the laws protect- 

 ing them, no doubt these historic animals 

 may be saved from total extinction. 



Among the many strange sights one sees 



*Since writing the above the daily papers an- 

 nounce that a dozen more of the Flathead herd 

 have been butchered at Helena, Mont. These 

 were probably steers bred for the market. 



