2 20 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
and alkaline. It lies only a few miles west of the 
Slave River, and some years ago was the favourite 
feeding-ground of the bison, which came to lick the 
salt. Bears and moose still frequent the neighbour- 
hood of the brine-springs, but the bison have gone 
farther inland, and little trace of them is left but a 
few bleached skulls." 
The history of the extermination of the bison of 
the prairies was described in great detail by Dr. W. 
T. Hornaday ^ in 1887 ; and as this account has been 
frequently quoted by subsequent writers, its repetition 
here is unnecessary. Dr. Hornaday estimated the 
number of living survivors of the species in the year 
1886 at 1091, of which 256 were in captivity and 835 
running wild in British North America, the Yellow- 
stone Park, and a few other localities. In 1890 Mr. 
Mark Sullivan attempted to make a fresh census of 
the species, the results of which formed the subject 
of an article published in the Boston Evening 
Transcript of loth October 1890. 
As the result of his inquiries, Mr. Sullivan estimated 
the number of bison living at that time as approxi- 
mately 1024, of which 684 were in captivity and 340 
running wild or half wild. His inquiries appear to 
have been conducted with great care ; and in the case 
of the greater number of confined herds — whether 
American or foreign — the numbers are practically 
accurate. The number of those running wild in 
the neighbourhood of the Great Slave Lake was, 
however, arrived at by a process of averaging " ; 
and the extent of the herd in the Yellowstone is 
to a large degree a matter of guesswork. Another 
^ "The Extermination of the American Bison," Rep. U.S. Nat. 
Museum^ 1886-87, pp. 369-348, Washington, 1889. 
