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