too dangerous to make the last stage of the pursuit on horseback, for fear of being caught in a passage so narrow as to insure a fatal accident to man or horse in case of a sudden discovery of the quarry.  I have seen wounded bison shelter in situations where a single bull could easily defend himself from a whole pack of wolves, being completely walled in on both sides and the rear, and leaving his foes no point of attack save his head and horns.

Bison which were nursing serious wounds most often have gone many days at a time without either food or water, and in this connection it may be mentioned that the recuperative power of a bison is really wonderful.  Judging from the number of old leg wounds, fully healed, which I have found in freshly killed bisons, one may be tempted to believe that a bison never died of a broken leg.  One large bull which I skeletonized had had his humerus shot squarely in two, but it had united again more firmly than ever.  Another large bull had the head of his left femur and the hip socket shattered completely to pieces by a big ball, but he had entirely recovered from it, and was as lusty a runner as any bull we chased.  We found that while a broken leg was a misfortune to a buffalo, it always took something more serious than that to stop him.

VI.  THE FOOD OF THE BISON.

It is obviously impossible to enumerate all the grasses which served the bison as food on his native heath without presenting a complete list of all the plants of that order found in a given region; but it is at least desirable to know which of the grasses of the great pasture region were his favorite and most common food.  It was the nutritious character and marvelous abundance of his food supply which enabled the bison to exist in such absolutely countless numbers as characterized his occupancy of the great plains.  The following list comprises the grasses which were the bison’s principal food, named in the order of their importance: 

Bouteloua oligostachya (buffalo, grama, or mesquite grass).—­This remarkable grass formed the pièce de résistance of the bison’s bill of fare in the days when he flourished, and it now comes to us daily in the form of beef produced of primest quality and in greatest quantity on what was until recently the great buffalo range.  This grass is the most abundant and widely distributed species to be found in the great pasture region between the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the nineteenth degree of west longitude.  It is the principal grass of the plains from Texas to the British Possessions, and even in the latter territory it is quite conspicuous.  To any one but a botanist its first acquaintance means a surprise.  Its name and fame lead the unacquainted to expect a grass which is tall, rank, and full of “fodder,” like the “blue joint” (Andropogon provincialis).  The grama grass is very short, the leaves being usually not more than