EXISTING KINDS OF WILD CATTLE 221 
element of uncertainty was introduced by the alleged 
existence of wild bison in the mountains of Colorado ; 
for while a government official vouched for their oc- 
currence in considerable numbers, old bison-hunters 
were very sceptical whether there were any at all. 
Admitting that the report of their existence in that 
district might be true, the author allowed 21 as their 
conjectural number. It was added that reports of 
wild bison in other parts of the United States were 
fabrications. 
The largest herd of pure-bred domesticated bison 
at that time living in the United States was one 
formerly belonging to Mr. C. Allard, which ranged 
over the Flathead Indian Reserve in Montana, and 
numbered 259 head. Next to this came the herd of 
Mr. Jones Goodnight, in Armstrong County, Texas, 
with a total of 1 10 head. 
Whatever may have been the real number of wild 
bison at that time, it is evident from the figures given 
above that they had decreased very seriously since 
1887, while those living in captivity exhibited, on the 
other hand, a marked increase in numbers. Although 
the bison in the Yellowstone are protected so far as 
possible from poachers, many of them fall victims to 
beasts of prey, and their rate of increase seems to be 
slow. Those in British territory were at that time 
much harried by Indians, and were in consequence 
rapidly decreasing in number. 
Another census was taken in 1894, when the total 
number of bison was estimated at 1233, against 1024 
four years previously. The wild herd in the Yellow- 
stone Park was put down at 30 head, whereas in 1890 
it was stated to include between 300 and 400. 
Passing over several partial or complete censuses 
