13 



cording to JMaxvvell three elk were killed in Caanan valley (now 

 Tucker county), by the Flanagans and Joab Carr about 1843. This 

 is the la^t killing of eik in A'irgiiiia thul is rjcoitled, so far 



as I am able to learn. The killing of the three in Caanan valley 

 was two years previous to the seeing of the herd of seven, near 

 Ehirbin, by Closes Arbogast and it is probable that others were 

 killed later of which no records were kept. 



American Bison or Buffalo, Bison bison Linn. 



There is little doubt that the buffalo once roamed in considerable 

 numbers over the greater part of the State. Early historians re- 

 cord that these animals Avere found in large herds along the val- 

 leys of the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers. "It is said that vast 

 herds of buffalo summered in Kanawha valley, in an early day, 

 within reach of the Salt Springs, or 'Big Buffalo Lick,' as it was 

 then called, and in the fall went to the grass regions of Ohio and 

 Kentucky and the cane brakes of Kentucky streams. Their routes 

 were — for Kentucky, do^vn through Teay's valley, and for Olfco— 

 down Kanawha to Thirteen-mile Creek, and over to Letart, where 

 they crossed the Ohio river. Colonel Crogan, who came down the 

 Ohio in a boat in 1765, encountered a vast migrating herd crossing 

 at Letart." (John P. Hale in Trans- Alleghany Pioneers, p. 62). 

 Hale says that the last buffalo killed in that region was by Archi- 

 bald Price, on the waters of Little Sandy creek of Elk river, about 

 twelve miles from Charleston, in 1815. Maxwell tells of a buffalo 

 cow and calf that were discovered at a deer lick in Webster county 

 about 1825. The calf was killed at the lick and the cow was fol- 

 lowed to Valley Head, Randolph county, where she was shot. It 

 is believed that no buffalo were killed in this State after that date. 



Carolina Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis Gimelin. 



The common gray suqirrel of all parts of the State except th< 

 higher mountain regions. This squirrel is somewhat migratory 

 and will be excessively abundant in a locality for a while and will 

 then become very scarce and remain so until the food supply, or 

 some other condition, causes it to return. Valuable as a game ani- 

 mal. Frequently damages grain especially corn in the roasting- 

 ear. Black individuals of this species are occasionally found. 



