Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-06

lne eNDpulllOn went lnlfly-1Ne HiloS
south to the Muscle-Shell district. This
region has been but little explored. and
they found great difficulty with the
the maps, which were very inaccurate.
At the Porcupine river camp the
weather had been very cold and stormy,
while ut the new camp ii was dry and
mild. AT this place large number OF
| mule deer were killed. The mule
deer is one of the largest and finest of
American deer ana is fast becoming ex-
tinct, because largo numbers are killed
annually for their hides which are made
up into gloves. Shipments of five hun
drcd to one thousand hides are fre-
quently made from Miles City by one
dealer alone. The ordinary Virginia
deer and the white-tailed animals arc
not uncommon. and the last were found
in great numbers. Half n dozen would
run out of almost every willow patch,
and they could be shot as easily as
sheep. Birds were very numerous.
Bohemian waxwings, which were very
scarce a few years ago, and were i'm
ported from Europe at considerable ex-
pense, are very plentiful in the neigh
borhood Of the Muscle Shell river. They
were found in focks like black birds, and
as many as twelve were killed in two
shots. A number of badgers and wild
cats and one large gray wolf were shot.
These wolves are fast disappearing.
They run in small packs behind buffalo
herds, living upon the injured and the
stragglers. They are becoming quite
as rare as the butfaloes. There is no
specimen of them in the museum at
Central park at present.
Rumors Of buffalo in the north started
the party back to the Big and Little
Porcupine rivers just as the thermome-
ter shot down to zero and binding
snow storm set in, which had to be
faced for thirty-fve miles. The rumor
OF buffaloes seemed to have originated
in the mind of an unemployed guide,
who was quite as ready to guide the
| party after imaginary animals as after
| the real. No butfaloes were found-no
| tracks, even. Unwilling to give up,
| the hunters searched day after day for
| two weeks, camping on the snow all
| the while, with the mercury ranging
from zero to 20 degrees below. AT the
end of that time they Ytarted back over
! the 200 miles to Miles City. The expe-
| dition supplied itself entirely with
| fresh meat. Some provisions were taken,
| of course, but there was great plenty
| of venison, with an occasional duck and
the party Jared well. Over four hun
dred pounds of fresh game were left at
the Porcupine river camp.
"The way in which the buffalo is
going is something frightful," !" said Mr..
| Richardson, in speaking of the failure
| to find even a track of the animal in the
| bad Land" districts. I'VE hunted
the country most thoroughly, and were
| led by McNannie, the guide who con-
| Quoted the Hornaday expedition last
| year. He knows the country thoroughly
| well, and is very conscientious fellow.
| If there had been any buffaloes l think
we would have found them.
In answer to a question as to whether
| further attempts would be made to Sc
| cure buffalo hides, Mr.. Richardson said
| that it was not at all likely that another
expedition would be>sent out expressly
| for that purpose. There are buffaloes
in the Yellowstone park, protected by
law. and there is strong popular preju-
dice against poachers. A few men do
| hang about the outskirts Of the park and
kill whatever game strays beyond the
| limits. An occasional buffalo is secured
in this way. -
although we did not get what we
went AFTER" said Mr.. Richardson; 1--WE
secured so many other things that the
| trip cannot by any means be called a
failure. Wherever large number of
species can be examined at once and
compared, opportunity is given for dis
covery of something new, even in WE'LL
known objects. Take the discussion in
regard to the horn-shedding of the ante
lope. 1t has long been disputed whether
the new horn was growing while the old
one was going to pieces. BY getting n
great many horns of one type of the
antelope, and in all stages of develop
ment, we have settled the question con
clusively. Again, it has been claimed
that the pupil of the eye in the antelope
was vertical. We examined a large
number of antelopes and found that this
idea probably came from the fact that
the angle at which the pupil is placed in
the eye varies just as the pupil of a
horses eye varies. 1t is never vertical,
| however.
AS soon as the car of stuff arrives from
the west its contents will be classified
and arranged, and the public may hope
to see among other results Of the eXpe-
dition, fine group of antelope added to
the other groups at the museum.