The Extermination of the American Bison/Contents

by William Temple Hornaday

 

CONTENTS

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PREFATORY NOTE.
Page.
Part I	— The life history of the bison				373
I.		Discovery of the species			373
II.		Geographical distribution			376
III.		Abundance			387
IV.		Character of the species			393
1.			The buffalo's rank amongst ruminants		393
2.			Change of form in captivity		394
3.			Mounted specimens in museums		396
4.			The calf		396
5.			The yearling		401
6.			The spike bull		401
7.			The adult bull		402
8.			The cow in the third year		406
9.			The adult cow		406
10.			The "Wood" or "Mountain Buffalo"		407
11.			The shedding of the winter pelage		412
V.		Habits of the buffalo			415
VI.		The food of the buffalo			426
VII.		Mental capacity and disposition of the buffalo			429
VIII.		Value to mankind			434
IX.		Economic value of the bison to Western cattle-growers			451
1.			The bison in captivity and domestication		451
2.			Need of an improvement in range cattle		452
3.			Character of the buffalo — domestic hybrid		454
4.			The bison as a beast of burden		457
5.			List of bison herds and individuals in captivity		458
Part II.	— The extermination				464
I.		Causes of the extermination			464
II.		Methods of slaughter			465
1.			The "still hunt"		465
2.			The chase on horseback		470
3.			Impounding		478
4.			The surround		480
5.			Decoying and driving		483
5.			Hunting on snow-shoes		484
III.		Progress of the extermination			484
A.			The period of desultory destruction		484
B.			The period of systematic slaughter		486
1.				The Red River half-breeds	488
2.				The country of the Sioux	490
3.				Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the buffalo	490
4.				The division of the universal herd	492
5.				The destruction of the southern herd	492
6.				Statistics of the slaughter	498
7.				The destruction of the northern herd	502
IV.		Legislation to prevent useless slaughter			513
V.		Completeness of the wild buffalo's extirpation			521
VI.		Effects of the disappearance of the bison			525
VII.		Preservation of the species from absolute extinction			527
Part III.	— The Smithsonian expedition for specimens				529
	I.	The exploration for specimens			529
	II.	The hunt			534
	III.	The mounted group in the National Museum			546

 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Group of buffaloes in the National Museum	Frontispiece
Head of ball buffalo to face page	382
Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad do	392
Buffalo cow, calf, and yearling do	398
Spike bull do	398
Bull buffalo do	404
Bull buffalo, rear view do	406
The development of the buffalo's horns do	418
A dead bull do	442
Buffalo skinners at work do	442
Five minutes' work do	444
Scene on the northern buffalo range do	444
Half-breed calf do	454
Young half-breed bull do	458
Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow do	458
The still-hunt do	468
The chase on horseback do	472
Cree Indians impounding buffalo do	478
The surround do	482
Indians bunting buffaloes on snow-shoes do	484
Where the millions have gone do	500
Trophies of the hunt do	542
MAPS.
Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo do	534
Map illustrating the extermination of the American bison	End of paper