The Hunting of the Buffalo, originally published in 1929, tells all about the marvelous and useful animal that once roamed the American plains. Its gradual extermination is chronicled by E. Douglas Branch, who drew on rich materials, including Indian legends, old letters and diaries, and tales of frontier travelers. No one has ever written more memorably about the great herds, their habits and haunts, their importance to the Indians, their discovery by awed whites, their decimation by huge cultural and economic forces. E. Douglas Branch (1905-1954) is also the author of The Cowboy and His...

J. Frank Dobie's history of the "mustang"-from the Spanish mestena, an animal belonging to (but strayed from) the Mesta, a medieval association of Spanish farmers-tells of its impact on the Spanish, English, and Native cultures of the West. J. Frank Dobie (1888-1964) was for many years secretary-editor of the Texas Folklore Society, taught at universities in Texas and Oklahoma as well as in England, Germany, and Austria, and wrote seventeen books on Texas and southwestern life, including The Voice of the Coyote, available in a Bison Books edition. Dayton O. Hyde is a rancher, conservationist,...

In The Voice of the Coyote, J. Frank Dobie melds natural history with tales and lore in articulating the complex and often contentious relationship between coyotes and humans. Based on his own life experiences in Texas and twenty-five years of research, Dobie forges a sympathetic and nuanced picture of the coyote prefiguring later environmental and conservation movements. He recognizes the impact of human action on the coyote while also examining the prominent role of the coyote in the myths and legends of the West.

"James Cook came west before he reached his teens, and his life encompassed most of the raw material that today comprises our mythology: trail driving, scouting, big-game hunting, Apaches, ranching, drought, desert and cow-country interest. All of these he not only saw but was actively engaged in."--San Francisco Chronicle

Eighteen-year-old Napoleon Augustus Jennings came to Texas in 1874 and joined a special force of Texas Rangers charged with border patrol under the command of L. H. McNelly. At this time the South Texas region was home to hundreds of outlaws and riffraff, and some three thousand Mexican guerrillas under Juan Cortina and others were raiding settlers on both sides of the Rio Grande. McNelly's Rangers stormed into this lawless area for two reasons, according to Jennings: "To have fun, and to carry out a set policy of terrorizing the Mexicans at every opportunity", which would gain them the...

A Publication of the Texas Folklore Society. The topics include Indian pictographs in the Big Bend, the cowboy dance, a miscellany of Texas folk songs, blues as folk songs, German customs in Gillespie County, customs and superstitions of Texas-Mexicans along the Rio Grande, and weather wisdom along the border. Contributors include L. W. Payne, Walter P. Webb, A. W. Eddins, Dorothy Scarborough, J. Frank Dobie.

A Publication of the Texas Folklore Society. The title of this volume comes from an essay by Hugh M. Taylor, "Spur-of-the-Cock: Hero of the Mayo Indians." Also included is an old New Mexican folk play, "Canto del Nino Perdido," edited by Mary R. Van Stone and E. R. Sims, followed by folk names of Texas cacti, cats and the occult, and old-time African-American proverbs by J. Mason Brewer.

A Publication of the Texas Folklore Society. The folklorists explore ranch remedies, folk medicine, folk tales and songs of Texas-Mexicans, and research in balladry and folk songs, among other topics.

This Publication of the Texas Folklore Society includes the play-party in Oklahoma; folklore of Texas birds; tall tales for the tenderfeet; fishback yarns from the Sulphurs; Cajun stories of Bolivar's Peninsula; Paul Bunyan; pioneer folk tales; folk anecdotes; the Texas pecan; African-American folk songs of Texas; old Nacogdoches; ghosts of Lake Jackson; how the polecat got his scent; characteristics of cowboy songs; ballads and songs of the frontier folk, and other tales.