T?IE CHASE. 57 



view nor in motion. He cannot readily tell a horse from a buf- 

 falo, or a man from a bush, if they are perfectly still, unless they 

 are quite near. Their sense of smell is very sensitive and discrim- 

 inating. Their sense of heai'ing is also very acute, though not 

 as much so as of many of the deer family. They are naturally 

 very timid and shy when their fears become aroused, but they 

 are not as suspicious as most of the deer. They liave a curiosity 

 which is very remarkable, and which prompts them to examine 

 every strange object which they see. This completely over- 

 powers their caution, and often leads them into danger and to 

 destruction. The hunter must remember they are exceedingly 

 fleet of foot, far outstripping all other animals of the plains. Au- 

 dubon saj'S, " They pass along, up or down hills or along the 

 level plains with the same apparent ease, while so rapidly do 

 their legs perform their graceful movements in propelling their 

 bodies over the ground, that, like the spokes of a fast turning 

 wheel, we can hardly see them, but instead observe a gauzy or 

 film-like appearance whore they should be visible." Colonel 

 Redfield once told me that he saw a frightened flock of antelopes 

 flee to a very steep and high mound of rather loose scoria, near 

 the Yellowstone River, which they seemed to go up almost like 

 rockets, the detached material rolling down behind them like a 

 line of smoke. Some of them lost their footing on the almost 

 vertical side and fell back to the bottom, but the instant they 

 reached that tliey flew back like the rebound of a ball, without 

 any appreciable pause. 



I have seen them in my grounds make prodigious horizontal 

 leaps across a ravine or depression in the ground from a standing 

 position or a leisurely walk when there was no obstruction to 

 impede their walking across it if they had chosen so to do. 

 These leaps seemed to require scarcely more effort than the walk. 

 It was a horizontal bound so light and elastic that it seemed like 

 a fleeting shadow, when the gentle walk would be instantly re- 

 sumed with no more animation or excitement than if they had 

 walked across the space. Still, as has been already explained, 

 they are unable to make vertical leaps. I think it safe to say 

 they cannot overleap an obstruction a yard in height. As before 

 stated, when consideiing tlie habits of this animal, it is incapa- 

 ble of sustaining its astonishing speed for any great length of 

 time. It will soon seek some eminence, if to be found, stop, take 

 breath, and look around for the object which alarmed it. 



Another fact should not be forgotten. This animal is remark- 



