It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited the trait described.  Such instances occurred only when buffaloes existed in such countless numbers that man’s presence and influence had not affected the character of the animal in the least.  No such instances of innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest calf.  The war of extermination, and the struggle for life and security have instilled into the calf, even from its birth, a mortal fear of both men and horses, and the instinct to fly for life.  The calf captured by our party was not able to run, but in the most absurd manner it butted our horses as soon as they came near enough, and when Private Moran attempted to lay hold of the little fellow it turned upon him, struck him in the stomach with its head, and sent him sprawling into the sage-brush.  If it had only possessed the strength, it would have led us a lively chase.

During 1886 four other buffalo calves were either killed or caught by the cowboys on the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, in the Dry Creek region.  All of them ran the moment they discovered their enemies.  Two were shot and killed.  One was caught by a cowboy named Horace Brodhurst, ear marked, and turned loose.  The fifth one was caught in September on the Porcupine Creek round-up.  He was then about five months old, and being abundantly able to travel he showed a clean pair of heels.  It took three fresh horses, one after another, to catch him, and his final capture was due to exhaustion, and not to the speed of any of his pursuers.  The distance covered by the chase, from the point where his first pursuer started to where the third one finally lassoed him, was considered to be at least 15 miles.  But the capture came to naught, for on the following day the calf died from overexertion and want of milk.

Colonel Dodge states that the very young calves of a herd have to depend upon the old bulls for protection, and seldom in vain.  The mothers abandon their offspring on slight provocation, and even none at all sometimes, if we may judge from the condition of the little waif that fell into our hands.  Had its mother remained with it, or even in its neighborhood, we should at least have seen her, but she was nowhere within a radius of 5 miles at the time her calf was discovered.  Nor did she return to look for it, as two of us proved by spending the night in the sage-brush at the very spot where the calf was taken.  Colonel Dodge declares that “the cow seems to possess scarcely a trace of maternal instinct, and, when frightened, will abandon and run away from her calf without the slightest hesitation. * * * When the calves are young they are always kept in the center of each small herd, while the bulls dispose themselves on the outside."[28]

[Note 28:  Plains of the Great West, pp. 124, 125.]

Apparently the maternal instinct of the cow buffalo was easily mastered by fear.  That it was often manifested, however, is proven by the following from Audubon and Bachman:[29]