UNGULATES. 
196 
rifles; and the price of robes having risen greatly in 1881, a rush from all sides 
was made on the devoted herd, and in the hunting-season, commencing in October 
1882 and terminating in the following February, the annihilation of the great 
northern herd was practically completed; only some straggling bands, numbering 
a few thousands, surviving. This event appears to have come like a thunder-clap 
on the hunters, who actually fitted out expeditions in the autumn of 1884, only to 
find that their quarry had disappeared for ever. Mr. Hornaday states that to the 
south of the Northern Pacific Railway, a band of about three hundred settled 
permanently in and around the Yellowstone National Park, but in a very short 
time every animal outside of the protected limits of the park was killed; and 
whenever any of the park buffaloes strayed beyond the boundary, they too were 
promptly killed for their heads and hides. Those remaining in the Yellowstone 
are now protected by Government, and there are a few scattered bands still linger¬ 
ing in the more remote and inaccessible portions of the country, but otherwise the 
American bison has ceased to exist as a wild animal. 
h Turning to the development and habits of the species, it appears 
that the breeding-season is from the beginning of July to the end of 
September, and that the calves are generally born from April to June, although 
occasionally as late as August. The cow does not breed till three years old, and 
sometimes produces two calves at a birth. For the first two months of its existence 
the calf has the pelage of a brownish yellow colour; and even at that period has 
indications of the long hair covering the fore-quarters of the adult. Young calves 
can be tamed with facility. In yearling bison the horns are in the form of a 
straight conical spike, of from 4 to 6 inches in length; and these spike-like horns, 
with a curve at the base in older individuals, continue till the end of the fourth 
year, during which period the young males are termed “ spike-bulls.” In these 
young bulls the horns are jet-black; but from scaling of the exterior, and the 
accumulation of dirt, they tend to grey in the adult. With advancing age the 
outer layers of the horn begin to break off near the summit, until the whole horn 
becomes short, thick, and blunted, “ with only the tip of what was once a neat and 
shapely horn showing at the end. The bull is then known as a ‘ stub-horn,’ and 
his horns increase in roughness and unsightliness as he grows older.” 
Towards the end of winter the coat of the bison assumes a faded and bleached 
appearance from the effects of the wear and tear of the elements; and towards the 
end of February, or somewhat later, the coat begins to change, but the whole 
process occupies more than half the year. The shedding is accomplished both by 
the new hair growing into and forcing off the old, and also by the latter falling off 
and leaving the skin bare in great patches, as shown in our coloured illustration of 
the European species. During the shedding process the animal presents an un¬ 
sightly appearance, but by the end of June the whole of the old hair has fallen off 
and the body is bare, although the new dark hair is well grown on the head. 
During the summer the naked skin is scorched by the sun and bitten by flies, and 
the animal consequently protects itself by wallowing, and thus coating itself with 
a plaster of dried mud. By the beginning of October the new coat of hair has, 
however, attained a considerable length, and between the 20 th of November and 
the 20 th of December the bison is in the full glory of his apparel; and the contrast 
