^6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 12, 1902. 
noted, in one year. Mr. Ford said he never saw one seek 
the shade. In the hottest weather they go up on the top 
of the hill. There are plenty of large pines and consider- 
able brush in the pastures. Mr. Ford said they seemed 
to avoid both. A mother never cached her calf. It was 
always under her eye. 
Cross-Breediog. 
At one time a number of Galloway cows were pur- 
chased and conveyed to Wild Horse Island, in Flathead 
Lake. A number of young buffalo bulls that had been 
raised with, and as I understand, suckled by domestic 
cows, and kept with the milk stock until full grown, were 
put with the Galloway cows on Wild Horse Island. This 
island is about four miles square, or nearly square. It is 
called six miles by some. It rises about 1,000 feet above 
the level of the lake. On the north end it is covered 
by pines and other evergreens. Most of its surface is 
covered with good grass, with now and then a pine tree. 
It looks like a rolling prairie, slopmg from the north 
end, where the hills are high and abrupt, in a gentle grade 
to the south end, where the prairie meets the lake. It is 
an ideal summer range. 
These cows were kept there several years, but the ven- 
ture was unprofitable, as a number of the cows died in 
giving birth to the first calf. After the first calf was born 
the cow seemed to have no further trouble in parturition. 
The experiment was discontinued, and since then there 
has been no effort made at cross breeding. 
When the cows were taken off the island one or two of 
the buffalo refused to be driven or taken off. When the 
rutting season came on one bull swam off the island to the 
mainland, a distance of half a mile or more. The first 
herd he struck was a bunch of dairy cows belonging to a 
rancher. The cows seemed to be afraid of him, with 
his long beard and big black head, and they struck out 
for their home corral The buffalo followed and insisted 
on being sociable. When the rancher came to milk, he 
also lost his nerve and would not go into the corral. He 
dispatched a boy to Pablo's and left his cows without 
milking for a couple of days. The rancher lived off the 
reserve, and it was a long way to Pablo's. When the 
herder reached the rancher's home he found that the bull 
could not be driven away, and the herder threw him and 
castrated him, and he was then driven ' away Avithout 
difficulty. 
The general impression is that if left to themselves the 
buffalo will not cross with domestic cattle. The buffalo 
run in bands, and while occupying the same range, they 
herd together and act just as antelope, elk and buffalo 
would act when occupying the same range. In order to 
cross, they must be kept away from their own kind. 
What half-breeds are there run by themselves and with 
the buffalo, never with the domestic cattle. Half-breed 
bulls are castrated, and the heifers prefer the buffalo bulls 
and breed to them. There are a number of three-quarter 
buffalo, but only one one-quarter buffalo. 
There is no attempt made now to encourage them to 
cross-breed. The band is so large that with a few years 
of luck there will be all the buffalo the range will support. 
Description of Cfoss-Breeds. 
Tn size the half breeds are somewhat smaller than 
buffalo. The hair is not so long over the hump and 
fore quarters. The beard is smaller and shorter; the 
coat more even and darker; the long flowing hair on 
outside of front legs a great deal shorter; hump some- 
what less prominent; tail a little (perhaps 6 in.) longer, 
and thicker; horns lighter in color, straighter and do not 
turn in at the point so much, which gives them the ap- 
pearance of being longer. Pablo said the horns when 
polished were always black. 
In a bunch of twenty-five mixed bloods, I saw one 
with a tail like domestic stock, and his general look was 
more like a black domestic steer than a buffalo. The 
herder told me it was a half-breed steer. Castration does 
not seem to make any material difference in the full- 
blood buffalo's appearance, the fattest and about the 
largest bull I saw, the herder told me, had been cas- 
trated, but at what age I could not say. 
A full-blood buffalo, w^hich has been castrated when 
young, has straighter horns than the entire animal. The 
horns do not turn in quite so mixch at the point. 
I could get information regarding only one quarter 
buffalo. The mother was a polled angus, the sire a 
half-breed. 
Pablo told me it looked like a polled angus — muley 
or polled ; the coat very fine and silky and very black. 
I did not learn the sex. Pablo told me of one he called 
a Texas buffalo, evidently a half-breed. It was yellow 
with black bars on its legs. I did not get a good de- 
scription of this animal. 
Half-breeds are more easily handled than buffalo. 
Pablo told me of a half-breed heifer whose mother was 
a Hereford cow, sire a buffalo bull. She has the bald 
face of the Hereford, and is without horns. She has a 
long dark buffalo-marked coat. She is somewhat of 
a hermit and seems to prefer being alone. 
The band of half-breeds I saw seemed to be thinner 
in flesh than the buffalo. When started they run like 
the buffalo, breaking into an easj^ gallop, almost from a 
walk. They were fully as gentle as ordinary range stock. 
I could not find any evidence to support the theory that 
the mixed bloods ever cease to breed. I asked the ques- 
tion and they told me that all the cows have calves. I 
have no doubt but there are some mixed bloods that 
cannot be told from buffalo by the ordinary observer. 
Deaths on the Range. 
Sometimes a buffalo is found dead on the range, and 
no reason can be giA'^en for the death. There must now 
be some very old buffalo in this herd; the bulls injure 
each other in fighting, but these causes do not cover 
most of the cases. 
They told me of one buffalo bull which persisted in 
ranging off toward the reservation line, sometimes cross- 
mg beyond the bounds. Complaints came in that the 
bull was doing damage. A cowboy was sent to bring him 
back. He w^ould only stay a short time and then go back 
to his old range. At last he became ugly and refvtsed to 
be driven. 
The ranchers living in the section where the buffalo 
ranged were asked if he did any damage, and they all 
insisted that he did not. Pablo at last took a wagon and 
drove out and butchered him. In skinning the animal his 
hide was found to be loaded with all kinds of small shot. 
A great number of .22-caliber rifle bullets were also found 
under it. The ranchers had evidently been afraid of him 
^ and shot to keep him away from their outfits, or else some 
one filled him full of shot out of pure maliciousness. 
Such causes as this may account for some of the deaths. 
There have not been a sufficient number of these to cause 
any uneasiness, and I am inclined to think they must be 
from old age and injuries received in battles at the rut- 
tmg. The herder said they sometimes were seriously torn, 
and some had died from this effect. None had died from 
lack of feed and exposure, as domestic cattle on the plains 
so often do. 
When a buffalo is shot on the range, the buffalo mere- 
ly start or give a little jump at the crack of the rifle. 
Then they gather around the fallen buffalo, and have to 
be driven away before the animal can be butchered. 
Sales from the Allard-Pablo Herd. 
The following records of recent losses of buffalo from 
this herd by sale and accident are taken from the books 
of the concern. Many of them are without date, and 
other particulars, yet they are interesting so far as they 
go. From the dates given it probably would not be diffi- 
cult to trace up many of these sales and to learn full par- 
ticulars about them. It will be noted that almost all the 
sales are of bulls or steers. There is always a super- 
abundance of males in the herd: 
No date. Sold to a Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts, six 
yearling heifers and two two-year-old heifers; taken east 
for breeding purposes. 
Sold to a Michigan banker named Hills, two two-year- 
old heifers, and one two-year-old bull. 
Sold to Governor Young — and no one se&ms to be able 
to tell where he governed — two two-3'ear-old heifers, one 
two-year-old bull; for breeding purposes. 
Three head sold to C. C. Willis, Horse Plains, Mont. 
No record, but they were probably butchered. 
The above imdated sales were probably made by all 
parties interested in the herd. 
1899 — Wilkins, of Bozeman, bought one old bull ; 
butchered. 
1899 — Five were sold to Meyers, of Helena, Mont. — 
bulls and steers; butchered. Record does not show by 
whom sold. 
1899 — Sold by M. Pablo, to a butcher in Kalispell. 
Mont, one old bull. It is stated that the butcher sold 
btxffalo meat at a high price all through the winter. 
1899 — Sold by Michel Pablo, one old bull to Caspar 
Deschamps, of Missoula; butchered. 
I find the following entries made withotit date: 
Sold to Howard Eaton, one bull, one heifer. Went east 
for breeding purposes. 
Dec. 14, 1901 — ^Jos. Allard sold one stag, very old. No 
record of purpose. 
May, 1901 — Sold by Jos. Allard, four cows and calves. 
Went east for some park. No record as to buyer or 
locality. 
May. 1901 — One cow and one yearling killed in round 
up. This was done while rounding up to take the Conrad 
purchase out, then made. 
1901 — M. Pablo sold nine steers and stags to Morris, of 
Seattle, Wash. They were sold for butchering, but I 
heard that the city of Seattle bought them and put them 
in a park. 
Nov. 23, 1900 — Michel Pablo killed one stag for beef 
for his home. 
1902 — Sold to Wilkins, of Bozeman, by the firm Pablo 
& Allard, three head of old steers. The buyer came, 
butchered them on the range, took the heads and meat. 
Their hides w^ere still hanging on the fence at the herders' 
camp. 
January, 1902 — ^Jos. Allard sold eight head, sex not 
stated, buyer not known. ( ? Eaton and Talstrup. Eb. 
Forest and Stream.) 
March 7, 1902 — Jos. Allard sold four head. There is no 
record of the sex of those sold, nor for what purpose. 
Feb. II, 1902 — Jos, Allard sold one cow, two bulls, to 
butcher at Horse Plains, Mont. 
February, 1902 — Jos. Allard sold one steer to butcher at 
Horse Plains, Mont. 
February. 1902 — ^Jos. Allard sold one half-breed to 
Sears, of Wallace, Idaho; butchered. 
How to Get There, 
Parties wishing to see these buffalo should take the 
Great Northern Railway to Kalispell. Here there are 
good hotels, and all kinds of driving, saddle and pack 
horses can be obtained if desired. 
A short drive or walk of a mile north of the business 
part of the city will take you to the Conrad herd. 
If you wish to see the Pablo-Allard herd, an outfit can 
be obtained, and you can drive down on either side of the 
Flathead Lake. A distance of seventy-five miles will 
bring you to them. The country is well adapted to camp- 
ing; wood, water and grass are abundant, and good camp 
grounds are encountered every few miles. A good way 
to go is to take the steamer Klondike, which sails from 
Demersville, three miles from Kalispell. The boat leaves 
for the foot of the lake every Monday, Wednesday and 
Friday of each week dttring the spring, summer and fall. 
The round trip costs $5. Stages run from Kalispell to 
Demersville, fare 50 cents. 
You board the Klondike between 5 and 6 o'clock in the 
morning, take breakfast on board. For sixteen miles you 
steam down the Flathead River, which is bordered by 
dense forests of large pine, fir and tamarack, but an occa- 
sional ranch house and field is passed. At the head of the 
lake you pass the post office, store and saloon comprising 
the town of Holt. A run of twenty miles on the lake 
takes you to Dayton Creek. Here the Flathead Indian 
Reservation begins. A stop is made here, but soon the 
boat moves on, and you pass down the lake by Wild 
Horse Island, where, as already stated, a number of 
Galloway cows and buffalo bulls were kept for a number 
of years. You are due at Poison, the foot of the lake, at 
II A, M. 
Here Mr. Henry Terrvault keeps a general store, runs a 
hotel, and can furnish almost any kind of conveyance you 
may wish to take you to see the buffalo. A ride of seven 
miles brings you to Pablo's ranch. 
If yoii are an old hand and want to camp and look at. 
things in your own way, yon can drive down the Pend 
d Oreille River— which leaves the lake here— in a south- 
westerly direction, and you will soon be in the summer 
range of the buffalo. I advise people to see Mr. Pablo or 
either of the Allard boj's. 
This country is an Indian reserve, and it might be ad- 
visable to be with some resident. Mr. Pablo is a busy 
man, and treated me with old-time hospitality, but I do 
not think he would be able to take care of very many 
people at one time. 
One can camp at Mr. Terrvault's at the boat landing, and 
with a good saddle horse or driving team can see most of 
the buffalo in a day. The country is fine for driving, al- 
though with a saddle horse some of the low mountains or 
high hills that rise up out of the tableland and border the 
buffalo range may be climbed so that one has a wider 
view. When the visit is over you can take the stage from 
Terrvault's, and a drive behind four fine horses takes you 
across the main Flathead Indian reserve to the Northern 
Pacific, at Ravalli, The distance is thirty-five miles, and 
is made in five hours. Stage connects with steamers from 
Kalispell. 
_ You can leave Kalispell in the morning, have a boat 
ride down the river and across the lake of sixty-five miles, 
then stage it thirty-five miles to the Northern Pacific at 
Ravalli for supper. At Ravalli there is a good general 
store and hotel kept by Duncan McDonald, who was born 
and raised in this place. 
If it is more convenient, one can reverse the trip just 
outlined, and start from Ravalli, where, if one is used to 
travel in the West, he will find everything he will need. 
I found everybody kind and polite, and did not see a 
bad man with a gun hung to him on the trip. 
J. B. Monroe. 
Catcking Fulmars in St Kilda. i 
The remote island of St. Kilda is exempted from the 
operation of the Wild Birds Protection Acts, for the 
reason that the inhabitants are dependent for their hving 
on the sea fowl which abound there, and which are most 1 
easily taken from the cliffs toward the close of the breed- 
ing season. This fact, it would seem, has not escaped 
the notice of His Majesty the King, for in a recent letter 
to Dr. C. F. Forshaw, who is about to revisit St. Kilda, 
Sir Francis Knollys, writing from Buckingham Palace on 
June 5, says : "I have had the honor of submitting your 
letter of the 2d inst. to the King, and I am commanded 
to request you to inform the inhabitants of St. Kilda, 
when you next visit that island, that he trusts that they 
will have a successful season in their occupation of ful- 
mar catching," For the benefit of those who may have 
but a limited acquaintance with northern sea fowl, it may 
be well to explain that the fulmar, so called from the 
Gaelic name for the bird, is a large petrel about the size 
of our common gull (Larus canus) for which at a little 
distance it might be mistaken. But though resembling 
it in size and color while at rest, it is observable when on 
the wing that the flight feathers are gray instead of black, 
while a closer inspection would reveal the peculiar nasal 
tubes which characterize the petrels, and cause the beak 
to present a very different appearance to that observable 
in the gulls. 
In British waters the great stronghold of the fulmar is 
St. Kilda, although of late years it has been found breed- 
ing in the Shetlands, on Foula and Unst, and there are 
indications that its breeding range as a North British 
species is more extensive than was formerly the case. 
Unlike the smaller petrels and shearwaters which lay their 
eggs in crevices of the rocks, among loose boulders, and in 
burrows excavated where the soil admits of it, the fulmar 
makes a nest like a gull on a ledge of sea cliffs, lining it 
with a little dried grass, and in this it deposits a single 
w-hite egg. The number of these birds which resort to 
St. Kilda for the nesting season is almost incredible, and 
can only be estimated from the returns of the numbers 
killed for food by the islanders. The season for capturing 
them lasts for eight days from Aug. 12, during which 
short period it is said that from 18,000 to 20,000 are an- 
nually captured. 
The method of catching these birds is peculiar to St. 
Kilda, and although the process is simple enough, the 
danger attending it must be witnessed to be appreciated. 
Hanging* on a rope, usually made of twisted thongs of 
cowhide and sheep's hide, the fowler descends the fearful 
precipices armed with a sort of fishing rod with a noose 
at the end. This he dexterously slips over the head of 
the bird which is sitting on a ledge of rock beneath him, 
and hauls it up. He then dips the bird's beak into a smalt 
leather bag suspended to his waist, and there the oil is 
vomited. The bird is then killed for food, the feathers 
and the oil forming articles of export. 
The late Rev. H. A. Macpherson, in his "History of 
FoAvling" (Douglas, 1897), thus describes the fowling-rod 
by which the fulmars in St. Kilda are captured, and of 
which he gives a sketch: "A rod which I brought back 
with me from St. Kilda measures about six feet six inches 
in length. It differs in no respect from a plain sea rod 
except that its upper extremity bears a slip noose mounted 
on a switch. This noose is made of horse hair, and is 
plaited together with strong quills, probably those of the 
gannet." 
It will be easily understood that no one but a practiced 
cragsman could venture to engage in so perilous an occu- 
pation as that of snaring fulmars on their nesting ledges. 
Bishop Stanley, in his "Family History of Birds." has 
collected some thrilling anecdotes of the dangers attending 
the avocation of the fowler in St, Kilda, and many readers 
will doubtless remember the illustration in that little vol- 
ume which depicts "the perilous leap of a bird catcher," 
who, having inadvertently let go his rope while collecting 
eggs, had to jump off a ledge to catch it as it swung 
several feet in front of him. 
In MacLean's "Sketches of St. Kilda," 1838, quoted by 
Gray with approval in his "Birds of the West of Scot- 
land," it is stated that the fulmars "are from two to three 
pounds weight. About 200 will go to fill a herring barrel ; 
yet each family, after serving the poor, shall have from 
four to five barrels salted for winter use." With regard 
to the alleged weight of a single fulmar, there must be 
surely some mistake here; probably it was only guessed 
from the size of the bird, a misleading mode of computa- 
tion. So far as the writer's experience has extended with 
birds of this species, taken off the east coast of England 
during the winter months, the weight of an adult fulmar 
