196 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



turning in like the frame of a lyre. Most of the ante- 

 lopes are remarkable for their graceful and slender make, 

 the structure of their limbs being beautifully adapted for 

 rapid flight. Their eyes are large and lustrous, and their 

 sight and scent remarkably keen. 



2. The American antelope, or prong -buck, of the 

 Rocky Mountain region is much smaller than the com- 

 mon deer. It is said to possess glands from which a pun- 

 gent odor is emitted like that of the goat. The eye of 

 our antelope is much larger than that of the deer, the ox, 

 or the horse ; is intensely black, and is softened with a 

 mild and gentle expression. This animal is one of the 

 swiftest-footed of all quadrupeds, and its speed is like the 

 flight of a bird. Its horizontal leaps are of astonishing 

 length, though it refuses to vault over even a moderately 

 high fence. Its horns, which divide into two prongs near 

 the tip, are hollow ; but there is good authority to believe 

 that, like the antlers of the deer, they fall off and are re- 

 newed. 



3. " The antelopes of America are lean. Being fleet 

 and quick-sighted, they are generally the victims of their 

 curiosity, for when they first see the hunter they run with 

 great velocity. If he lies down on the ground and lifts 

 up his arm, his hat, or his foot, the antelope returns on a 

 light trot to look at the object, and sometimes comes and 

 goes two or three times, till it gets within reach of the 

 rifle. Sometimes, too, they leave their own herd to go 

 and look at the wolves, who crouch down, and, if the an- 

 telope be frightened at first, they repeat the same manoeu- 

 vre, and sometimes relieve each other, till they get it com- 

 pletely separated from the rest of the herd, when they 

 seize it ; but generally the wolves seize the antelopes while 

 they are crossing the rivers, for though swift of foot they 

 are bad swimmers." 



