NATURAL HISTORY. 



When a bird or a wild animal is killed, that is the end of it. If photographed, it may still live and its educational 



and scientific value is multiplied indefinitely. 



THE WOOD BISON. 



J. A. ALLEN. 



The American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory has recently obtained a skull and un- 

 mounted head skin of the wood bison, taken 

 by Indians near Great Slave lake. The ex- 

 act point is not known, but it is evidently a 

 freshly killed specimen, and is in excellent 

 condition. It is a young male, probably 

 about 4 years old. Compared with speci- 

 mens of the plains bison, of corresponding 

 age, it is rather above the average size of 

 the latter, with the base of the horn cores 

 relatively thicker, and the head skin has the 

 whole pelage darker, softer, and more silky. 



The present specimen confirms, as far as 

 it goes, the characters recently assigned to 

 the wood bison by Mr. S. N. Rhoads, and 

 quite warrants its recognition under the 

 name. Bison athabascae, applied to it by 

 him. Formerly it doubtless completely in- 

 tergraded with the Southern form. Now 

 that it is on the point of extinction, the fol- 

 lowing summary of its recent decadence 

 may be of interest. 



The American bison formerly ranged 

 continuously from the Northern boun- 

 dary of the United States Northward 

 over the Saskatchewan plains to the region 

 about Great Slave lake, in latitude 60 de- 

 grees North, and even to the vicinity of 

 Great Marten lake, in latitude 63 or 64 de- 

 grees. 



There is abundant historic evidence to 

 show that the wood bison formerly ranged 

 from the Liard river, in latitude 60 degrees 

 Eastward to the Eastern end of Great Slave 

 lake, and from the district just Northwest 

 of Great Slave lake Southward to the 

 Western end of Lake Athabasca, and West- 

 ward to the East base of the Rocky moun- 

 tains. 



According to Warburton Pike, in 1890 a 

 few bands of buffalo were scattered over a 

 considerable area of country between the 

 Liard river and Great Slave lake, and 

 thence South to Peace river. It is impossi- 

 ble to say anything about their numbers, as 

 the country they inhabit is so large, and the 

 Indians, who are few in number, usually 

 keep to the same hunting ground. The site 

 of his own successful hunt for these ani- 

 mals, in February, 1890, was on a tributary 

 of Buffalo river, about 50 miles South of its 

 entrance into Great Slave lake. 



It was near this point that Frank Russell 

 hunted them in 1894, with the same Indian 

 guide, but without success. He says : "We 



reached the Northern limit of the buffalo 

 range, perhaps 50 miles South of the Great 

 Slave lake." Owing to stormy weather, 

 Mr. Russell failed to reach the herd, being 

 compelled to turn back without seeing a 

 single bison. Concerning their numbers, 

 haunts, and prospects he writes as follows : 



"The herd at present consists of a few 

 hundred only. They are so wary that but 

 one effective shot can be fired before they 

 betake themselves to flight, and, as with 

 the moose, pursuit is altogether futile. They 

 can not be hunted in summer, as the coun- 

 try which they inhabit is an impenetrable, 

 mosquito-infested, wooded swamp at that 

 season. . . They can only be killed by 

 stalking in midwinter, when their pelage is 

 at its best. . . 



"The Indians along Peace and Slave 

 rivers make occasional trips into the buffalo 

 country with dog teams to establish lines 

 of marten traps. When they discover a 

 band of buffaloes they of course kill as 

 many as they can, but they have not made 

 systematic efforts to hunt them for their 

 robes, as they have the musk-ox. Fortu- 

 nately, the officers of the company have ex- 

 erted their influence toward the preserva- 

 tion of the buffalo, not trading for the 

 robes, until the recent advent of rival trad- 

 ers. During the winter of 1892-3 40 buffa- 

 loes were killed, the largest number that 

 had been secured for several years. I saw 

 most of these robes, which were very dark, 

 the hair thick and curled, making a robe 

 superior to that of either musk-ox or plains 

 buffalo; they were so large that the Indians 

 had cut many of them in halves for con- 

 venience in hauling on the sleds. 



"From $10 to $50 are paid for the robes. 

 The traders are trying to induce the Indians 

 to preserve them as mountable skins. 



"The Northern limit of the range of the 

 buffalo, as given by Mackenzie, was the 

 Horn mountains, North of Little lake. 

 Pere Ruore, who has crossed the Rae- 

 Providence traverse several times, assured 

 me he had seen buffalo skulls on the prairies 

 within 50 miles of Providence, Northwest of 

 the Western end of Great Slave lake. I 

 saw no remains of buffaloes when I crossed 

 these prairies in December, owing to the 

 snow, but the country is similar to that 

 South of the lake, where they are still 

 found. 



"Black Head, an old Yellow Knife chief, 

 living at the mouth of the Riviere au Jean, 

 told me he had killed plenty of buffaloes 



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