Prongbuck 229 



fact that it is a creature of the open, where its eyes are more 

 often serviceable to it than its ears, or even than its nose, and 

 that the majority of its signals, unlike those of woodland ani- 

 mals, are dependent upon vision for their success. 



In obvious relation to the full expressive eye is the inter- 

 esting habit recorded by Judge Caton:^*^ 



"Our Antelope [he says] has the faculty of weeping when 

 in affliction. I first observed this in a specimen which had 

 been taken wild when adult, and still retained all his natural 

 fear of man. I had placed him in a close cage in the evening, 

 intending to familiarize him with my presence, and divest him 

 of his fears when he saw me by convincing him that I would 

 not hurt him. When I approached him the next morning he 

 seemed struck with terror, and made frantic efforts to break out, 

 which he soon found was impossible. His great black eye glis- 

 tened in affright. I spoke softly and kindly, while he stood trem- 

 bling as I introduced my hand and placed it on his shoulder. 

 Despair now seemed to possess him, and he dropped on his 

 knees, bowed his head on the ground, and burst into a copious 

 flood of tears, which coursed down his cheeks and wet the floor! 

 My sensibilities were touched, my sympathies were awakened, 

 and I liberated him from that cage as quickly as I could tear 

 the slats from one of the sides. Whether he appreciated this 

 or not I cannot say, but his great fear seemed to leave him as 

 soon as he was liberated; he ran but a little way and not at full 

 speed, when he stopped and began to pick the grass." 



The Prongbuck is the only horned ruminant in North feet 

 America that has but two hoofs on each foot. Nature's eco- 

 nomic plan has been to remove all parts that cease to be of use, 

 and so save the expense of growing and maintaining them. 

 Thus man is losing his back or wisdom teeth, since civilized 

 diet is rendering them superfluous. Ancestors of the Ante- 

 lope had four hoofs to the foot, like the Deer or the pig, but 

 the back pair on each have been dropped. At an earlier 

 period the common ancestor of the Antelope and Deer had five 



^ Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, p. 46. 



