Of these, eight bulls were shot during a hunt organised by the Grand
Duke Sergius Mikhailovitch in December 1895.
With the exception that perhaps more cows were killed than is justifiable,
the damage done to the herd during these sixty years by actual
hunting was certainly not excessive/ But the after-effects of these huntsH
due to the frightening of the animals by the beaters— appear to have been
far more serious. This seems to be most marked after the great hunt of
i860, when, as already said, upwards of twenty-eight-fell to the rifles of
the sportsmen. In i860, as shown in the first table, the total number of
bison in the forest was believed to be 1575, but as only 1447 were counted
in the following season, the herd had suffered a total diminution of 128
head; and it is greatly to be feared that the mortality was mainly due
to the ultimate results of the great hunt.
The official records are silent as to the number ofjbison killed by
poachers from 1832 to 1872, although sporting journals and popular
literature show that the total must have been by no means inconsiderable.
Between 1873 and 1892 the number thus lost is officially given as
thirty-six. This is by no means heavy:.; and since o f late years still greater
precautions have been taken in guarding, the forest, it may be safely
concluded that very little harni is now done by poaching.
A certain number of bison have been from time to time captured alive
in the forest and presented to various zoological gardens. Foremost among
these was a pair captured in 1847 and sent to London in 18 4 8 ; the
British Museum also receiving a skin, which is still exhibited in the
mammal gallery. About that date a second plair was presented to a Russian
park, a third to the Zoological Gardens of Schonbruner, near Vienna, and
a fourth to the Jardin des Plante^Paris. In 1864 a bull, cow, and calt
were sent to Moscow ; and the same year the Zoological Gardens of
that city received a bull and cow,, together with two calves, the two
former of which had been captured with the London specimens in 1847.
In the spring of 1865 four bison were presented to the Prince of Pless, in
Silesia, and in 1867 the Zoological Gardens of Gatschina received seven
examples, and others two years later. In 1873 a pair was presented to
Constantinople, and a second pair to Berlin. A total of thirty-one head
are thus known to have been presented up to 1873, since which date
there is no definite record that anjglive bison have been exported, although
th e re ® a statement that in 1893 five head were sent A h e Prince of Pless
for the replenishment of his small Silesian herd.
Mention has already been made o f the diminution of the herd during
the first Polish uprising, when it lost 1 1 5 head. A similar loss occurred
at the second revolution. And whereas in 1862 the herd comprised 112 4
adult and 12 7 young animal^ in the following year the number of the
former fell ^ 7 9 5 and that of the latter to 79 ; the total loss thus
beingn.:§7||| Although it is commonly stated that the lo p was due to
the revolutionists shooting down the bison in mass, this is incorrect. The
true cause was that Bielowfitza lay right in the line of conflict between the
revolutionists and the Russian troops, si> that the animals perished in a
miscellaneous manner.
Human foes are not, however, the only ones against whom the bison
have to contend, bears and wolves being their deadly enemies, while i tH
probable that many calves are killed by lynxes. As far back as 1855 we
read that in the summer a great w a rB f extermination was waged against
the four-footed foes of the bison. Another great hunt took place in 186 1,
when the bears were well-nigh extirpated. In 1879: forty wolves, one
bear, and five lynxes were accounted for ; while in the following year the
number killed comprised sixty-three wolves, one bear, and five lynxes. A
commission which visited the forest in 187 1 took especial pains in the
formation of plans for the destruction of the carnivora, with the result that
wolves became ssg;scarce~that in 1889 only one, in 1890 five, and 1891 six,
were all that could be killed. In the official tables the number of bison