Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-09
INTERESTING ANIMAL
sASAJAwEA. a LITTLE BUFFALO
HEIFER
Expressed Great Anxiety Over the Ef-
forts Made to Domesticate
Her Brothers.
Written for The Star

Her Brothers.
Written for The Star.
When took the little buffalo bulls from
Corbin Park last spring with a view to
breaking them 10 the yoke and TO harness.
[ also took heifer calf two weeks old.
But so absorbed have I been IN the main
experiment, that OF making the huh calves
into useful beasts of burden. that the little
heifer has received comparatively little at
sention, and has been allowed to grow up
anyhow to speak Never taeless, her
bodily welfare has not been neglected, and
undoubtedly she is the very latest little
calf within ten miles of this place
As she was born IN the year of the Lewis
and Clark exposition. named her SAGA
jawea. for the Si,oshone Ind an woman who
so successfully guided the great explorers.
and whose statue unveiled during the
exposition. But partly because this name
is long one for everyday use ana partly
because OF the rather impudent manner OF
the calf itself, she was nicknamed 'Saucy."
an appeliation which seems more fitting
every day.
To look at. "Saucy' is typical buffalo
calf, seven months old. She is Only two
weeks younger than War Whoop'' and
''Foma hawk. the now famous team. but
she is considerably smaller as II is natural
that female calf should be. In color she
Is exactly ike htf DlpIItFS, DQi Npf iHf Is
softer and more beautiful. Then, her hump
is not so high, and her horns are neither
so long thick those of the bull
calves. Though she has been handled much
less. she is quite as fearless as the other
two and there is roguish look in her
eyes which makes every one want TO hug
her. and a tendency to lishtness In her
hind feet which makes most people refrain
from doing SO.
"Saucy" a Bright Animal.
Ero,, ts-. ,-arx bor;poipg
brighter and showed more character than
either of the bull calves When I went
| into the pasture with the milk bottles sha
| was the first, apparently. to realize what
l was there for. If they were all lying
| down she was the first 10 jump TO her feet
and face me. Usually she would toss her
pretty head two or three times, in the
| sauciest manner imaginable, and then.
| after giving two or three gruntS, she would
throw her short tail straight In the air and
| come galloptng toward me with her little
| mouth open and all ready to receive tho
| nipple through which she sucked the milk.
| AS a young calf "Saucy' was gwen to
| butting very much less than either IVY ar
! Whoop" ''Toma hawk" but perhaps this
was because she considered that kicking
| was much more effective At any rate, the
! bottoms OF her hoofs were in sight on ths
| slightest provocation, and often enough
| without any visible rrovocauon at all.
| Many time have L seen her, when driven
| into a corner, with the other calves about
| her deliberately kick her way out. rappinS
| her brothers right and left. And many
| time, when she has had 10 pass very close
| to me she mas given me good one on the
| leg, on general principles. In short, "A
smart kick seemed to be her trump card.
| and she played II whenever she was In
/ doubt, well as when she was sure that
| it was necessary
Loyal to Her Brothers.
What has always endeared her to me is
her intense loyalty to her brothers. All
buffalees are clannish and "Sau ~ IS re-
marilably 50. When l first began TO take
the little bulls out on the road with hal
ter. the heifer calf was much distressed,
and, by her repeated grunts of disapprovaI.
/ made the others very difficult TO manage.
/ They would answer her promptly. and man
! a time they would have rejoined her had II
/ not been for the stN-foot wire fence. Then,
| as we returned, ''Saucy' would us the
moment We came in sight, and would make
! the other calves restless by gailoping
| toward us, and grunting Indignantly as she
! came.
/ When 1 took the team to thu Sullivan
| county fair they were away for five days.
| and it nearly broke the little Eeifer's heart.
| She walked Up and down along the fence.
often standing up on her hind legs in her
| efforts to get through it. When, at LAST,
! her brothers returned, she was almost be-
! side herself and it Seemed that she would
| never get tired of caressing them and OF
| licking their fur, which she did from head
! to loot
| Last week an addition was made 10 my
! buffalo range. 1t consists Of a good-sized
! barnyard, with running water. and gives the
calves access to part oH the barn where
/ they win be abIo 10 gel a meal of hay al
any time after the first heavy snowfall. The
| other day | took the team out for an eight
mile drive, and. usual, "Saucy'' was left
behind, Tuning and grunting. 1 had gone
about half n mile when / noticed the puff
! faloes becoming restless and pIicking up
| their ears, and the next moment there was
/ patter of gaHoping hoofs, an indignant
little grunt, and the heifer came tearing up.
Stopped the Procession.
! She planted herself squarely across our
| path, and would not allow US to proceed until
| she had kissed her brothers. and thoroughly
licked their faces Then she accompanied
| US during the whole OF the drive, sometimes
| in front and sometimes close alongside, but
| always near that she appeared 10 be
4 hitched to the cart. ] thought, of course,
| that some one had acndent tally let her out
| Of the Enclosure. but when / returned /
| found that she had jumped onto q high
stone wall just inside the new wire fence,
| thence over the fence itself, landing on the
road more than four feet below.
| I am afraid that "Saucy' Will be very
| lonely for at least two weeks this winter
| for the team is going to the sportsmen's
show in Boston, where 1t will be exhibited
| for the purpose OF creating additional Inter
est in the national movement foot 20
! preserve the buffalo from extinction. Ii IS
/ about a year 1870 since I told my readers
| that ere another winter closed IN the friends
| OF the buffalo would have gathered about
/ him in force to insist upon his preservation
Nor shall be very late In the fulfillment OF
! my promise. Before the publication of this
| article there will have been organized In
New York the American Bison Society
whose list of officers viii be headed by that
name to conjure wIth-Theodore Roosevelt
ISI1A n A A-IyE-