54 THE ANTELOPE OF AMERICA. 



to follow me out of the park, she would never return with me 

 voluntarily but would immediately start off, exploring in her 

 own way. This gazelle and the young antelope would follow me 

 together, not only in my walks, but also when I drove, or rode 

 on horseback in the parks. She disliked a visit to the elk as 

 he did, though she did not resort to as intelligent means to tell 

 me so. When both were following me, especially when I was 

 riding, they Avould race together at top speed, all around me and 

 sometimes two hundred yards away, as if ambitious to exhibit 

 their agility, and would seem to enjo}^ the gambol together, as 

 much as would two young dogs, though I never saw them play 

 thus together except when following, and the gazelle showed less 

 inclination to the sport than the Pi'ong Buck, perhaps because 

 she was older. 



After very extensive inquiries on this subject, I heard of a 

 single instance of this animal breeding in domestication. Mr. 

 Stephen Cipperly, in Bureau County, Illinois, has a pair which are 

 in no way confined, but allowed the range of the neighborhood, 

 and frequently visit the neighbors, several miles away, and seem 

 to enjoy the sport if they can get dogs to chase them home. The 

 female of this pair, when she was two years old in 1876, dropped 

 one kid, which, however, was still-born, or at least dead when it 

 was found. It can no longer be said that our antelope will in 

 no case breed m domestication, but certainly it must be but 

 rarely expected. We should have expected this to occur in the 

 country where they flourish in a wild state, and it is certainly re- 

 markable that it has occurred so far away, and in a region so 

 unfafVorable to their well-being. 



The reason of the sterility of these animals in domestication is 

 not very apparent. There is certainly no want of ardor on the 

 part of the male, and the female is not A\itliout an inclination to 

 breed, but from some unknown cause their union is not fertile. 

 That their I'eproductive powers should be impaired by domestica- 

 tion, we should expect, in obedience to a very general law gov- 

 erning a very large majority of wild animals and birds, when re- 

 duced to domestication ; but this may be largely accounted for 

 by the disinclination to breed, manifested to a greater or less de- 

 gree by both sexes. Such can scarcely be said to be the case 

 with our antelope, yet it is undoubtedly true that its general 

 health and vigor is more impaired than is generally the case with 

 wild animals when domesticated or confined. Until the one 

 taken adult sickened and died after a few months' confinement in 



