DOMES TIC A TION. 49 



the buffalo, as we call him ; and if either is beaten in the race, he 

 will turn away to the plains in apparent disgust, but will never 

 ci"oss the track immediately behind the train. 



Were our antelope compelled to live in a forest, no doubt, in a 

 few generations, they would learn to make as surprising leaps 

 vertically as we now see them make horizontally. Tiien it would 

 be a very difficult matter to restrain them by inclosures. A Vir- 

 ginia deer, in attempting to jump a fence when frightened, will 

 strike against the palings from six to seven feet high, if on level 

 ground, and yet he cannot compare in speed or in horizontal 

 leaps with the Prong Buck. 



DOMESTICATION. 



Under this head I shall find it convenient to further explain 

 the habits of this animal, but under different circumstances, or in 

 different conditions of life. Hitherto we have only considered 

 its habits in the wild state, where our observations have neces- 

 sarily been very much circumscribed. In that limited degree of 

 domestication to which it has been subjected, we shall observe 

 many traits or characteristics, undeveloped or not discovered in 

 his wild state, manifesting a degree of intelligence not otherwise 

 suspected. 



Considerable numbers of the young are found every year by 

 hunters and travelers passing over the plains where they roam. 

 If very young, these are taken without difficulty by simply pick- 

 ing them up, while those of a few days old will lead a consider- 

 able chase before they are captured. These, latter are not so 

 likely to live as the former. Like the fawn of the deer, if taken 

 very young, they will attach themselves to their captors in a short 

 time, and attempt to follow them as they would their mothers. 



From necessity, these young kids are fed upon the milk of the 

 cow, or preferably of the goat, if to be obtained. Very soon they 

 commence to eat grass, and to ruminate. Experience shows 

 that but a small percentage of these are raised. Dr. Canfield ex- 

 perimented extensively in this direction at Montera, where the 

 wild ones were very abundant all about him. He says they are 

 first attacked with diarrhoea. " If they escape this, they live a 

 long time, one, two, or three months, growing slowly ; but at 

 the end of that time all the female kids, and almost all the male 

 ones, become diseased, having scrofulous inflammation of the 

 joints, get a cough, become lame and poor, and finally die after 

 lingering some weeks. I never yet have known a female ante- 

 4 



