History of the American Bison

No editorial abridgment or digest of any part of the memoir has been
deemed advisable, the portions of the memoir here reproduced being
printed exactly according to the copy furnished by the author, who has,
as already said, added much new matter and made some little changes,
passim, in the context. A few editorial notes, chiefly explanatory of
modifications of the text are introduced, always in brackets.

In its present form, and with the wide circulation now given, it is

believed that the memoir will satisfy the desire long felt by the public

to possess a complete and thoroughly reliable history of the most con-

spicuous and most important quadruped of America, prepared with the

greatest care and pains, after protracted and patient research, by one of

the most eminent therologists of the country.

ELLIOTT COUES,

Secretary of the Survey.

PART I.

DESCRIPTIVE AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

BISON AMERICANUS (GMELIN) SMITH.

American Bison or Buffalo.

Bos americanus GMELIN, Syst. Nat., I, 204, 1788.-DESMAREST, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., III, 531, 1816; Mammalogie, 496, pl. xliv, 1820.-HARLAN, Fauna Amer., 268, 1825.-GODMAN, Amer. Nat. Hist., III, 4, 1826.-DESMOULIN, Dict. Class. Hist. Nat., II, 365, 1822.-RICHARDSON, Fauna Bor. Amer., I, 279, 1829.-FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 495, 653, 1829.—COOPER, Month. Am. Journ. Geol. & Nat. Hist., 1831, 44, 174, 207 (remains at Big-bone Lick, Ky.); Amer. Journ. Sci., XX, 371, 1831; Edinb. New Phil. Journ., XI, 353, 1831.-DOUGHTY, Cab. Nat. Hist., II. 169, pl. xiv, 1832.-SABINE, Franklin's Journey, 668, 1833.-WAGNER, Schreber's Säugt., V, 472, 1855.-GIEBEL, Säugt., 271, 1855.-BAIRD, Mam. N. Amer., 682, 1857; U. S. & Mex. Bound. Survey, Pt. II, 52, 1859.-NEWBERRY, Pacif. R. R. Expl. & Surveys, VI, iv, 72, 1857.-SUCKLEY & GIBBS, Ibid., XII, ii, 138, 1860.XANTUS, Zool. Garten, I, 109.-ALLEN, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 186, 1869; XVII, 39, 1874.

Bison americanus CATESBY, Nat. Hist. Carolina, II, App., 20, xxviii, 1743.-BRISSON, Reg. Anim., Quad., 1756.- SMITH, Griffith's Cuv., V, 374, 1827.-DE KAY, Nat. Hist. New York Zool., Pt. I, 110, 1842.-SUNDEVALL, Kong. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. för 1844, 203, 1846.-GRAY, Knowsley's Menag., 49, 1850; Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus., Pt. III, 39, 1852; Hand-List of Edentate, Thick-Skinned & Ruminant Mam., 85, 1873.-GERRARD, Cat. Bones of Mam. Brit. Mus., 230, 1862.-TURNER, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, XVIII, 177, 1850.-AUDUBON & BACHMAN, Quad. N. Amer., II, 32, pls. lvi, lvii, 1851.-BAIRD, Rep. U. S. Pat. Off., Agricult., 1851, 124 (plate), 1852.— LEIDY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 200, 210; Extinct Mam. Faun. N. Amer., 371, 1869.-ALLEN, Bull. Essex Institute, VI, 46, 54, 59, 63, 1874.—RÜTIMEYER, Verhandl. Naturf. Gesells. in Berlin, IV, iii, 1865; Versuch einer natürlichen Geschichte des Rindes, II, 58.

Bos bison var. B LINNÉ, Syst. Nat., I, 99, 1766.-KALM, Travels in N. Amer. (Forster's Transl.), I, 297.

Bos bison SCHINTZ, Synop. Mam., 482, 1845 (in part only).

"Bos urus var. BODD., Elen. Anim., 1784."

Bos bonasus BRANDT, Zoogeographische und Palæontologische Beiträge, 105, 1867 (in part only).-LILLJEBORG, Fauna öfvers Sveriges och Norges Ryggrad., I, 877, 1874 (in part only).

Taurus mexicanus HERNANDEZ, Mexico, 587.

Taurus quivirensis NIEREMB., Hist. Nat., 181, 182.

Le Bison [d'Amérique], BUFFON, Hist. Nat., XI, 284, Suppl. III, pl. v.-F. CUVIER & GEOFFROY, Hist. Nat. des Mam., I, livr. xii, 1819; II, livr. xxxii; III, livr. xliv.— G. CUVIER, Reg. Anim., I, 170, 1817; Oss. Foss., 3d Ed., IV, 117, 1825.

American Bison, AGASSIZ, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XI, 316, 1867.

Buffalo, COOPER, Month. Am. Journ. Geol., 1831, 174, 207 (remains at Big-bone Lick).KNIGHT, Amer. Journ. Sci., XXVII, 166, 1835 (remains at Big-bone Lick).— LYELL, Proc. Geol. Soc. London, IV, 36, 1843 (remains at Big-bone Lick).

Description.-An adult measures about nine feet (two and three fourths metres) from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail, and thirteen and a half feet (about four and one sixth metres) to the end of the tail, including the hairs, which extend about fifteen inches beyond the

vertebræ. The female measures about six and a half feet (about two metres) from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail, and about seven feet (two and one sixth metres) to the end of the tail, including the hairs, which extend about ten inches beyond the vertebræ. The height of the male at the highest part of the hump is about five and a half to six feet (about two metres); of the female at the same point about five feet (about one and a half metres). The height of the male at the hips is about four and two-thirds feet (nearly one and a half metres); of the female at the same point about four and a half feet (about one and a third metres). Audubon states the weight of old males to be nearly two thousand pounds, that of the full-grown fat females to be about twelve hundred pounds.

The horns of the males are short, very thick at the base, and rapidly taper to a sharp point, which in old individuals becomes worn off on the lower side, and the end is often shortened by the same process and occasionally much splintered. Their direction is outward and upward, finally curving inward. The horns of the females are much smaller at the base but nearly as long as in the males, but they taper very gradually, and are hence much slenderer, and are rather more incurved at the tips, where they are rarely abraded as in the males. The hoofs are short and broad, those of the fore feet abruptly rounded at the end; those of the hind feet are much narrower and more pointed. The muffle is broad and naked, having much the same form as in the domestic ox. The short tail has the long hairs restricted to a tuft at the end.

In winter the head, neck, legs, tail, and whole under parts, are blackish-brown; the upper surface of the body lighter. The color above becomes gradually lighter towards spring; the new short hair in autumn is soft dark umber or liver-brown. In very old individuals the long woolly hair over the shoulders bleaches to a light yellowish-brown. Young animals are generally wholly dark brown, darkest about the head, on the lower surface of the body, and on the limbs. The young calf is at first nearly uniform light chestnut-brown, or yellowish-brown, with scattered darker hairs on the belly, where are also occasionally small patches of white. Toward autumn the light yellowish color is replaced by the darker brown that characterizes the older animals. After the first few months the younger animals are darker than they are later in life, at middle age the coat, especially over the shoulders, becoming lighter and presenting a bleached or faded appearance, which increases with age. The horns, hoofs, and muffle are black, the hoofs being sometimes edged or striped with whitish. There are no important sexual differences in color.

The woolly hair over the shoulders is much longer and more shaggy than elsewhere on the body; it increases in length on the neck above, gradually losing its woolly character, and between the horns attains a length of ten to fourteen inches, nearly concealing the ears and the bases of the horns, and often partly covers the eyes. The long hair advances also on the face, where it decreases in length and becomes more woolly again, extending far forward in a pointed area nearly to the nose. The chin and throat are also covered with long hair, which under the chin forms an immense beard, eight or ten inches to a foot or more in length. Thick masses of long hair also arise from the inner and posterior surfaces of the upper part of the fore legs, where the hair often attains a length of six or eight inches. A strip of long hair also extends along the crest of the back nearly to the tail. The tail is covered with only short soft hair till near the tip, from which arises a tuft of coarse long hair twelve to eighteen inches in length. The hinder and

lower portions of the body and legs are covered with short soft woolly hair. This is moulted early in spring, after which for a few weeks the hinder portions of the animal are quite or nearly naked. The shoulders retain permanently the long shaggy covering, which with the long hair of the neck and head gives them, especially during the moulting season, a singularly formidable aspect.

The female, as already stated, is much smaller than the male, with a less elevated hump, much smaller, slenderer, and more curved horns, less heavily developed beard, less shaggy head, etc., but presents no essential differences in color.

Albinism and Melanism.-Pied individuals are occasionally met with, but they are of rare occurrence.* I have seen but a single specimen, the head of which, finely mounted, is now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. I obtained it of hunters at Fort Hays, Kansas, near which place it was taken in 1870, where it was regarded as a great curiosity. In this specimen, a female, the whole face, from between the horns to the muzzle, is pure white, but in other respects does not differ from ordinary examples. White individuals are still more rare, but are not unknown. A former agent of the American Fur Company, who had had unusually favorable opportunities of judging, informed me that they probably occur in the proportion of not more than one in millions, he having seen but five in an experience of twenty years, although he had met with hundreds of pied ones. Black ones are rather more frequent, but can only be regarded as very rare. The fur of these is usually much softer and finer than that of ordinary individuals, and black robes, from this fact and their great rarity, bring a very large price. They seem to be more frequent at the northward than elsewhere.

Varieties.-There are two commonly recognized varieties of the buffalo, known respectively as the wood buffalo and the mountain buffalo. The wood buffalo is described by Hindt as larger than the common bison of the plains, with very short soft pelage and soft short uncurled mane, thus more resembling in these points the Lithuanian bison or aurochs. It is said to be very scarce, and to be found only north of the Saskatchewan and along the flanks of the Rocky Mountains, and to never venture into the plains. A supposed variety of the bison, referred to by some of the northern voyagers as occurring north of Great Slave Lake, and known only from vague rumors current among the natives, is in all probability the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus).

The mountain bison, so often referred to by hunters and mountaineers as a variety or perhaps a distinct species, seems to agree in all essential particulars with the so-called wood bison of the region farther north. The same characters of larger size, darker, shorter, and softer pelage, are usually attributed to it, but one meets with such different, exaggerated, and contradictory accounts of its distinctive features from different observers, that it is almost impossible to believe in its existence, except in the imaginations of the hunter and adventurer. I have found that those actually conversant with it, and whose opinions in general matters are most entitled to respect, regard it as but slightly or not at all different from the bison of the plains. Others who know it only from hearsay, and whose notions of it are consequently vague, generally magnify its supposed differences, till some do not hesitate to declare their belief in it as a specifically distinct animal from the common bison of the plains. Dr. Cooper, speaking of the bisons found formerly in *See Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mts., Vol. I, p. 471.

+ Hind (H. Y.), Ñar. of Canadian Red River Explor. Exped., etc., Vol. II, pp. 106, 107, 1860. + See Bulletin Essex Institute, Vol. VI, p. 55, 1874.

the mountain valleys about the sources of the Snake River, says he "saw no difference in the skulls, indicating a different species, or 'mountain buffalo' of hunters."* The bisons formerly living in the parks and valleys of the central portion of the Rocky Mountain chain doubtless did often grow to a larger size than those of the plains, with rather larger horns, and, being less subjected to the bleaching effects of the elements in their partially wooded retreats, would naturally have a darker and perhaps softer pelage. The weathered bison skulls I met with in 1871 in the upper part of South Park and in the vicinity of the tree-limit in the Snowy Range of Colorado were certainly larger, in the average, by actual measurement, than those of the Kansas plains. The small bonds now lingering here and there in the mountains, and now currently known as the mountain buffalo, may be in part the remnants of a former larger mountain form, but certainly a part of them are actually recent migrants from the plains. In 1871 I was able to trace the migration of a small band up the valley of the South Platte and across South Park to the vicinity of the so-called Buffalo Spring, situated considerably to the southward of Fairplay. Specimens of the "mountain bison" sent in a fresh state from Colorado to the Smithsonian Institution during the present winter (December, 1875) certainly presented no appreciable differences from winter specimens from the plains. The mountain race of the bison was apparently a little larger than the buffalo of the plains, and doubtless was nearly identical with the race known farther northward as the "wood buffalo." Their more sheltered and in some other respects somewhat different habitat would tend to develop just the differences claimed to distinguish the mountain and northern woodland race.

Castrated buffaloes are said to be occasionally met with where the buffaloes are abundant, being castrated when quite young by bunters. They are reported to attain an immense size, being so much larger than the others as to be conspicuous from their large size.

Relationship to the Aurochs.-The American bison is a little smaller than the aurochs (Bison bonasus), with a much larger chest, a smaller and weaker pelvis, a shorter and smaller tail, more shaggy head, and heavier beard. The more important differences, as shown by a comparison of the skeletons, consists in the chest (see subjoined measurements, Table I) in Bison americanus being absolutely larger than in Bison bonasus, while the pelvis is very small and weak. The B. americanus is hence greatly developed anteriorly, or in the thoracic portion of the body, with the pelvic portion disproportionately reduced, while in B. bonasus just the reverse of this obtains a small compressed thorax and a strong heavy pelvis. This gives the aurochs the appearance of standing higher on its legs. The dorsal outline is about equally declined posteriorly in each species, not relatively much more declined in B. americanus, as generally stated. Neither does the aurochs possess relatively longer hind limbs, as compared with the fore limbs, than B. americanus, the proportion being essentially the same in the two, whether the total height of the animal be assumed as the basis of comparison, or whether the comparison be based on the bones of the limbs alone.

› Comparing, for example, a fine perfect skeleton of a very large old male of each species, beautifully and correctly mounted, the height of

*A mer. Nat., Vol. II, p. 538, 1868.

These skeletons are Nos. 91 (Bison americanus) and 165 (Bison bonasus) of the osteological collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, both of which were prepared and mounted in the same manner by the same persons, under the supervision of Prof. H. A. Ward, of Rochester, and represent two pieces of his best osteological work, which is justly celebrated for its neatness and accuracy.

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Books

History of the American Bison: Bison Americanus