Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-24

be made to conform to the present condt-
ton of the country, and whether or not he
can be tanned and added to mans list Of
useful domestic animals
Not that either the success failure Of
an attempt to domesticate him should affect
the matter of his preservation, for, apart
from all question of utility. there are a
hundred good and sufficient reasons why
Americans should unite in a strong effort 10
save the last few hundreds of the finest
animals which ever trod their SOIL Never
| theless, such an attempt is interesting, and
if successful should not be unfavorable to
the cause OF the buffalo.
Wanted to Rear Them by Hand.
To attempt the rearing Of buffalo calves
by hand, to study their habits day by day,
and later to attempt to break them to the
yoke, has been the dream Of the writer,
ever since he came, a year ago, to live with
in sight of Corbin Park, New Hampshire, in
which Is confined the largest herd of bison
In the world. No one but he can know with
what longings he used to lie for hours be-
hind rocks or trees, or hidden in the foun-
dations of ruined buildings watching the
movements of sundry tawny youngsters as
they punched their shaggy mothers with
their hard little heads, or, in the occasional
mad stampedes, held their places in the
flying herd, fleet as polo ponies and sure
footed goats.
out from my hiding place and try to cap
ture one in my arms, but moments refec-
ton was enough to show me the absurdfty
of the thought. In the first place, one might
as we'll try to capture jack-rabbit; In the
second place. If one succeeded in catching
it, a creased bob cat would be easier to
hold and even If one could hold 1t, the
probability of being killed by the mother
bat tod IN
certainty.
So l dreamed on, until the cold weather
came, and until the buffaloes were driven
from their summer range of 24,0U0 acres to
the buffalo yards, smaller Enclosures in
which they are fed during the winter. Then
1 went to the president Of the Blue Noun
tain Forest Association, which owns this
great herd, and 1 told him of my dream.
And behold, the well-nigh universal ques-
ton, What am 1 going to get out of it?"
never rose to his lips. Neither did he say,
''Supposng they all die?'
Agreed to the Experiment.
What he did say was this: ut is an ex-
pertinent which should be tried. How many
calves do you want? Four? All right. III
give you order for them"
Just think of It,; thousand dollars
worth of the rarest big mammals native
to this continent, turned over with as little
fuss as though had said: GO to. lend
lame duck"
By and by came April, and with it the
first of the buffalo calves, and, as desired
to make a complete pictorial well a
written record of the experiment, 1 jour
neyed to the buffalo yards, ten miles across
Croydon mountain, to photograph the
calves before they were taken from their
mothers. Now, it has been my experience
that, with the exception of certain elderly
bulls. which seem to have grown morose,
possibly from living too much by them
selves, most buffaloes are peaceably dis
posed. save only at the time when the
calves are young. Then, the cows are saw
age demons or protecting angels, according
to the point of view. But from whatever
point of view one looks at them, they de-
mand the absolute respect of every visitor
who would inspect or photograph the
babies.
Photographing the Calves.
AS I entered the tree-dotted yard where
the cows and their little calves were quar-
tered, had two assistants-a magazine ed
itor from New York. in search of the sim
pie life, and good BIZ Morrison, a Scotch
man, who has spent fifteen years of his
life handling the "Corbin" buffaloes The
cows lost little time in showing their met
tie, and the first photograph 1 got was one
OF my friend the editor, perched we'll up
in a tree, where, like a sensible fellow that
he was he remained until hostilities were
over. Morrison did what he could to drive
the cows to points where they might be
photographed, but they were in no humor
to be driven, and several times he had to
sprint to friendly trees and fences. At last
l saw fair chance for a picture, and
camera in hand, went out for shot.
The COW was standing with her tawny
calf peeping from beneath her hairy neck
and L stepped carefully toward her, focus
ing as l went. She was looking right at
me with flashing eyes, all the while paving
the earth, and occasionally letting out a
hoarse grunt with such force that it shook
her whole body. l continued to advance
aware of an occasional warning word from
morrison, but anxious to get fair-sized
image before releasing the shutter. But I
never got that picture, for the COW put her
head to the ground, and / knew exactly
what that meant. l reached a certain tree
before she did, and the next instant we
1t. Fortunately, the calf decided not to fol-
low, and with parting snort the COW went
off to join him.
The Next Attempt.
The next chance 1 got was on the other
side of the yard. There was handsome
COW we'll out in the open, with very young
calf of slightly lighter shade than the
others. But she was angry to the very
roots of her short tail, which stood erect in
the air, fairly twitching with the violence
OF her emotions. line from Kipling ran
in my head.
ut amt no Christmas dinner" etc.
but 1t seemed good chance. and took it.
l felt certain that she would charge. and
only hoped that she would control herself
until had made my exposure. And she did
1t, too. though what it cost her in patience
no one will ever know
AS approached very carefully she shook
her head and rolled her eyes, and 1 half
wondered If she just waiting until she
could quite make sure of me. I crawled ,lp
until / felt she would not stand another
foot, and then 1 touched the button The
cow did the rest. Hardly had / heard the
soft buzz of the focal plane shutter when I
saw the shaggy head drop to the earth, and
her well-curved horns, glittering like the
crescent moon. were coming my way with
every ounce of her vigorous strength and
speed behind them.
A Dangerous Situation.
The nearest tree was little more than a
sapling, and the race for 1t came very being
dead heat Just as 1 lodged, the great
head came up with a vicious jerk, the horns
ripped the air close to my right shoulder,
and felt the rush of wind on my face as
she went by. Right well she knew that
she had missed me, and tried to check her.
self. But she had such way on her that
she slipped down on her launches and slid
al m her tot Puf only for ar