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Show 110 DR. C. A. CANFIELD ON THE PRONGBUCK. [Feb. 27, chase small animals about, making a noise like a ram when rutting, and sometimes made the same rutting noise when going to leap on an animal. He liked very much to have any one play with his head and horns ; but would not allow any other part of his body to be handled or touched, and was very skittish and untractable, though apparently so gentle. He would follow the dogs all day in the hills with m e when hunting ; but if separated from me by accident would immediately go to the house. He thus returned home alone, one day, a distance of twelve miles. He frequently ran out to meet the Antelopes that were crossing the valley, or that were coming in to drink ; and although he sometimes went off with them to the hills, he always returned immediately to the valley. I raised also another little buck Antelope ; but he was very wild, and ran away when eight or nine months old, after the older one was killed ; so that I learnt nothing from him, except that his first little horns fell off in November, when he was six months old or more. "The doe Antelopes almost invariably bring forth two kids at a birth. It is very rare (in fact I never have known) that a female has been killed pregnant with only one foetus ; and, on the other hand, they never have more than two at a birth. In this respect they are very different from' the females of the Black-tailed Deer (Cervus columbianus), which frequently bring forth only one at a birth, and not uncommonly three. It is not rare to see a doe Deer with three fawns following her ; and I am assured by reliable hunters that they have killed, occasionally, doe Deer pregnant with three foetuses. In this respect, as in many others, the Antelope is much more regular in his habits, much more conformable to fixed rules, than most other wild animals. For example, the female Antelopes all bring forth their kids about the same time, within the space of about a month; whereas female Deer are dropping their fawns for three or four months. Doe Antelopes are always * in good order/ except when giving milk, though they never get very fat as do the bucks sometimes. The fat of the Antelope is very hard, like spermaceti, and makes excellent candles. The Antelope trots, gallops, and bounds, and is the swiftest animal in North America. The greyhound cannot catch it in a fair chase; a fast horse can hardly overtake one with one leg broken. I chased a buck three miles on one occasion, having broken his forearm, and the ball having penetrated to the lungs ; m y horse was an excellent one, fast and ' long-winded ;' but it required all m y efforts to overtake the buck in that distance. The hide of the Antelope is thin and weak, but makes soft and pliable ' morocco' or dressed leather. " In your report you say nothing of the existence of the Antelope on this side of the Sierra Nevada; but I can assure you that they abound everywhere in all the plains and valleys of the western slope, down to the Pacific Ocean. " Much more could be added to the above, relative to the habits, &c, of the Prong-horned Antelope ; but this must suffice; and if what I have written you will be of any value to science, you are at liberty to make such use of it as you think proper." |
