The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-02-06


producing 4 valuable one. This IS both the
one aud the other In any detail of personal
observations, OF IN any resume OF those recorded
elsewhere by a naturalist such as Mr.. Horna-
day we should look for new facts aud impor-
taut suggestions, aud vet this expectation
might readily be fulfilled. without that eX-
haGstive treatment which the subject has here
received. Those objections 10 most writings
upOn descriptive zoology, which readers OF pre-
viOus sketches OF wild beasts have been aCcus-
toned 10 sec, arc In this instance absent, and il
j. no small satisfaction 10 an American TO wei
come the appearance of publication fit in
every way 70 take .aaE among the best scientific
issues Of the Old World. Merit Of this kind is
now always recognized where approval consti-
taics tHc highest honor an author can hope for,
sud that the readers OF THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
mag have the advantage OF information which,
a. contained in 4 book that does not enter the
general literary circulation, might otherwise
escape them, an abstract Of its contents Is given
in place of the usual paper on some mammal.
A synopsis viii give but a faint idea of the
original, but facts which everyone should
know may thus lie difused.
Promising then that all which follows belongs
% Mr. Hornaday, and nothing 10 his abbreyia-
Tor. we may enter upon the sad history of the
determination of high and valuable animal ;
Of a race net doomed 10 disappearance through
defective organization ana Incompetence 10
maintain Us place in nature during the struggle
Ger existence, bat cut oil violcntly-senselessy
aud wantonly destroyed for the most part by
white men who were as blind 10 the conse-
eHcHces Of their acts as the sayages who assisted
them.
From the Chronicle Of De Soils It appears
that C0rtez and his c0nquistadores saw bisons
drought most probably from Coahuilal in the
EeuaEcrie Of N0ntczHma, and were the FIRST
Europeans who beheiG these animals This
was IN 1921. and niue years afterwards, Alyar
Nuncz Cabcza Cabezl de Nacal, found them
wild in southeastern Texas, and described
them, as did Castaneda also in his account Of
the expedition Of Coronado. Most Of the Span
lsh explorers went south Of the " buffalo
range, and consequently did rot meet with
them. 80 that they were next seen somewhere
near Washington, District o! Columbia, IA 1912
by an English navigator named Samuel Ar
COLL Father HCnuepin encountered the Bison
Americans upon the northern boundary, or
line Of the lakes, IN 1919, and Col. Byrd dis
covered II While running the line between
North Carolina aud Virginia IN 1929 .. The
Tange Of the American bison extended over
about 0ue-third of the continent OF North
America. Starting almost AZ tidc-watcr on the
Atlantic coast. - extended westward through
vast tract Of dense forest, across the Allegheny
Mountain system 10 the praiTics along the Mis-
slsslppi, aud southwark 10 the delta Of that
great stream. Although the great plains coun-
Try Of the West was the natural home OF the
species. where il fiourished most abundantly,
il also wandered south across Texas 10 the
burning plains of northeastern Mexico. west
ward across the Rocky Mountains into New
Mexico, Utah and Idaho, and northWard across
= vast trec.ess waste 20 The bleak aud inhOspit-
Able shores OF the Great Slave Lake itself"
Within this wide area Of distribution -" the
cf00k-aacked oxen, a. CastaHeda called lcm
50 a0ounded that, OF all the qaadrupcds that
faye lived upon the earth, probably no other
species has ever marshaled such iunumerabie
e9sts a. those Of the American bison" This
form j. also among Idm.aauis tie granGcst Of
hem al, when free. but in captivity he
fails 10 develop a. Finely IS IN thc wild state.
lie gets iat aud short bodied, aud
the Jack o. vigorous and constant exercise
prevents the development Of bone and muscle
which make the prairie animal what il is.
Captivity I9ay be said 70 reverse al the con-
c.tiaus up9a which complete development de-
ponds. il d impossible % account Of the linn
TIED space al our disposal 10 follow the author