234 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



minutes I2| seconds, or at the rate of 14 miles an hour. An 

 ordinary runner makes a mile in 5 minutes (/. e., at the rate 

 of 12 miles an hour), so that what actually counts in the race 

 is, as usual, the trifle more speed that each animal can command. 

 All travellers and hunters agree that the Antelope can 

 cover an astounding distance in a single leap, but none of them 

 tell us what they mean by ** astounding," whether 15 feet or 50, 

 and this still remains to be ascertained. Judge Caton, how- 

 ever, points out ^^ that their leaping power is almost restricted 

 to the horizontal. They are so essentially creatures of the 

 open plains, and so unaccustomed to high jumping, that a 

 four- foot fence was found enough to confine them. 



cuRi- This animal is credited with uncontrollable curiosity. 



In the old days of Lewis and Clark the recognized method of 

 "tolling" Antelope within shot was to wave a handkerchief on 

 a stick in their plain view, the gunner himself remaining con- 

 cealed, and usually, after much doubt and many circlings, the 

 herd ventured within range. 



In early days, we are told by many travellers, any unusual 

 object was enough to attract the Antelope. But in later times 

 they learned wisdom. On the plains of New Mexico, I never 

 could "toll" Antelope, nor did I hear of any one in that coun- 

 try who had succeeded recently. In fact, the local hunters 

 maintained that it was "played out" — the Antelope were too 

 wary now to be taken in. 



Colonel Roosevelt makes a similar observation for the 

 Antelope of the Little Missouri region: 



"In the old days [he says^^], it was often possible to lure 

 them toward the hunter by waving a red handkerchief to and 

 fro on a stick, or even by lying on one's back and kicking the 

 legs. Nowadays, however, there are very few localities indeed 

 in which they are sufficiently unsophisticated to make it worth 

 while trying these time-honoured tricks of the long-vanished 

 trappers and hunters." 



'^Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, pp. 47-48. 

 ^* Deer Family, 1903, p. 106. 



