D OMES TIC A TI ON. 5 1 



longer, than the males. Several of my friends have been more 

 successful than I have in their attempts to rear this auimal. 

 Probably my grounds are peculiarly unfavorable for him, being 

 almost entirely forest, though mostly open and devoid of under- 

 bushes. There are but a few acres devoid of trees. These were 

 most affected by the antelope. My information is that in Kansas, 

 and in fact in all other places this side of the mountains where 

 they are found in a wild state, those which survive for a month 

 or so are tolerably healthy, and if they escape accidents, may be 

 expected to live for several years at least. It is manifest tliat 

 experiments have shown that, from some unknown cause, there is 

 more hope of rearing this animal on this side of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains than on the Pacific Coast, where, in a wild state, they were 

 once the most prosperous. 



The Prong Buck is very easily tamed, and soon loses all fear 

 of man, seeks his society, and enjoys liis company. When taken 

 young, and brought up by hand, they become at once attached to 

 the one that feeds them. I raised one thus, which was taken 

 charge of by a little girl, and nothing delighted it so much as to 

 have a play and a romp with her ; and in watching them to- 

 gether, it was easy to persuade one's self that the little pet showed 

 not only observation and intelligence, but even reflection. He 

 assumed he had as much right in the kitchen as any of the do- 

 mestics; and if he found the doors open, he enjoyed a visit to the 

 parlor, and especially a siesta on the lounge in the library. 



When I turned the wild buck loose, as before stated, I was 

 agreeably surprised to observe that he made no attempt to es- 

 cape, and did not even dash away, as if greatly alarmed. After 

 a few leaps, he trotted away two or three hundred yards, and 

 then commenced grazing upon the bine grass. For a few days, 

 he would not allow me to approach him. 



Whenever I walked in the park the younger one, which had 

 been brought up by hand and was very tame, the moment he 

 saw me, no matter how far away, would rush up to me with the 

 greatest delight, and rub his head against me in a most affection- 

 ate manner, and receive the gratuity, which he always expected, 

 with great satisfaction ; and would follow me constantly where- 

 ever I went, gamboling around in much the same way as is 

 observed in a young dog. Scarcely a week elapsed before I ob- 

 served the older one, which was so wild in close confinement, 

 following me at a distance. Each day he ventured nearer and 

 nearer, till I observed he would not keep more than twenty or 



