This animal is peculiar to North America, and wanders in vast herds
over the western plains. They are much attracted by the soft, tender
grass, which springs up after a fire has spread over the prairie. In
winter, they scrape away the snow with their feet, to reach the grass.
The bulls and cows live in separate herds for the greater part of the
year; but at all seasons, one or two bulls generally accompany a large
herd of cows. The bison is in general a shy animal, and takes to flight
instantly on winding an enemy, which the acuteness of its sense of
smell enables it to do from a great distance. They are less wary when
they are assembled together in numbers, and will then often blindly
follow their leaders, regardless of, or trampling down, the hunters
posted in their way. It is dangerous for the sportsman to show himself
after having wounded one, for it will pursue him, and, although its
gait may be heavy and awkward, it will have no difficulty in overtaking
the fleetest runner.
_Anecdotes._--Many instances might be mentioned of the pertinacity
with which this animal pursues his revenge. We are told of a hunter
having been detained for many hours in a tree by an old bull, which had
taken its post below, to watch him. When it contends with a dog, it
strikes violently with its fore feet, and in that way proves more than
a match for an English bull-dog. The favorite Indian method of killing
the bison, is by riding up to the fattest of the herd on horseback, and
shooting it with an arrow. When a large party of hunters are engaged in
this way, the spectacle is very imposing, and the young men have many
opportunities of displaying their skill and agility. The horses appear
to enjoy the sport as much as their riders, and are very active in
eluding the shock of the animal, should it turn on its pursuer. The
most common method, however, of shooting the bison, is by crawling
towards them from to leeward; and in favorable places, great numbers
are taken in pounds. When the bison runs, it leans very much first to
one side, for a short space of time, and then to the other, and so on
alternately.
When the Indians determine to destroy bisons, as they frequently do, by
driving them over a precipice, one of their swiftest-footed and most
active young men is selected, who is disguised in a bison skin, having
the head, ears, and horns adjusted on his own head, so as to make the
deception very complete; and, thus accoutred, he stations himself
between the bison herd and some of the precipices that often extend for
several miles along the rivers. The Indians surround the herd as nearly
as possible, when, at a given signal, they show themselves, and rush
forward with loud yells. The animals being alarmed, and seeing no way
open but in the direction of the disguised Indian, run towards him, and
he, taking to flight, dashes on to the precipice, where he suddenly
secures himself in some previously ascertained crevice. The foremost of
the herd arrives at the brink--there is no possibility of retreat, no
chance of escape; the foremost may for an instant shrink with terror,
but the crowd behind, who are terrified by the approaching hunters,
rush forward with increasing impetuosity, and the aggregated force
hurls them successively into the gulf, where certain death awaits them.