OP THE UPPER MISSOURI. 
151 
Fort Pierre. But at the present time they seldom pass below the 47th parallel on the 
Missouri. Every year as we ascend the river, we can observe that they are retiring nearer 
and nearer the mountainous portions. In Kansas they are found at this time at certain 
seasons of the year in immense droves on the Smoky Hill fork of the Kansas, within 60 
or 70 miles of Fort Riley, and from there to the South Pass they are distributed to a 
greater or less extent. It is true that these animals are at all times on the move, and fre¬ 
quent different portions of the West at different seasons of the year, or as they are driven 
by the hunters and Indians; but there are certain parts of the country over which they 
formerly roamed in immense herds, but are never or rarely seen at the present time. The 
area over which the Buffalo graze is annually contracting its geographical limits. As near 
as I could ascertain, about 250,000 individuals are destroyed every year, about 100,000 
being killed for robes. At the present time, the number of males to the females seems to 
be in the ratio of ten to one, and this fact is readily accounted for from the fact that the 
males are seldom killed when the cows can be obtained. Skins of females only are used 
for robes, and are preferred for food. Beside the robes which are traded to the whites by the 
Indians, each man, woman, and child requires from one to three robes a year for clothing. 
A large quantity are employed in the manufacture of lodges, and an immense number of 
the animals, which it would be difficult to estimate, are annually destroyed by wolves and 
by accidents. The Buffaloes vary in color, white, cream, gray, sometimes spotted with 
white, with white feet and legs, &c. These varieties are called by the Indians “ Medicine 
Buffaloes,” and are regarded of the greatest value, often bringing several hundred dollars. 
About one in 50,000 is an albino, while one robe in 100,000 is called by the traders a silk 
robe, and is usually valued at from one to two hundred dollars. Range: Formerly found 
throughout nearly the whole of North America, east of the Rocky mountains; now con¬ 
fined to the plains west of the Missouri and along the slopes of the Rocky mountains. 
Vespertilio pruinosus, Say. All over the United States east of the Rocky mountains. 
Vespertilio noctivaganp, Leconte. Common throughout the country east of the Rocky 
mountains. 
Vespertilio Noveboracensis, Gmelin. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Birds. 
Cathartes aura, Illig. 
Turkey Buzzard. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 4. 
Very abundant throughout the Northwest generally. 
