228 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



laid down informs the second one of the action. At the place 

 where the Wolf was sighted the sudden diffusion of the rump- 

 musk on the surrounding sage-brush will be perceptible to the 

 newcomer for hours afterward; and the cause of it will be made 

 clear when the Wolf trail is detected. This may sound a far- 

 fetched tale of Sherlock Holmes among the Beasts, but not so, 

 if we remember that in these animals their sight faculty is at 

 least as good as ours; that their scent faculty is of still greater 

 value to them; and finally, if all this had been recorded in the 

 snow, we also could have read it with absolute precision. 



The uniform of the species is itself an important means 

 of intercommunication. Its conspicuous colouring labels the 

 creature afar that this is surely an Antelope, for information 

 of friend or foe. Thus one realizes that it is useless to follow, 

 and the other that it is needless to flee. 



It is interesting to note that the Antelope's tail does not 

 count in its code of expression, although in the Whitetailed 

 Deer — which is not furnished with the discograph — the tail 

 is greatly developed and specialized as a means of communica- 

 tion. Parallel cases are the Wapiti, whose tail is inert, but 

 whose crupper-patch is very active, and the Moose, whose tail 

 is a dummy, or sleeping member of the firm, but whose hip on 

 each side is furnished with an erectible patch that seems to 

 serve the purpose of expression. 



VOICE The sound oftenest heard from the Antelope is a querulous, 



grunting bleat, uttered by the mother when she is calling to the 

 kid. The adult has also a sort of shrill whistle or snort — used 

 as an alarm and a short bark of curiosity. The kid utters a 

 bleat or squeak, but most of their signaUing is done by appeals 

 to the eye and nose. 



EYE The eye of the Antelope is of marvellous beauty and mag- 



nitude, "larger than that of any other quadruped of its size," 

 as Caton says ^^ — and there is every evidence that it is as keen 

 as it is beautiful. This is readily understood in relation to the 



^' Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, p. 24. 



