182 A Trip on the Prairie. 



singularly regular and even, without any of the bounding, 

 rolling movement of a deer ; and it is, consequently, very 

 easy to hit running, compared with other kinds of game. 



Antelope possess a most morbid curiosity. The 

 appearance of any thing out of the way, or to which 

 they are not accustomed, often seems to drive them 

 nearly beside themselves with mingled fright and desire 

 to know what it is, a combination of feelings that throws 

 them into a perfect panic, during whose continuance they 

 will at times seem utterly unable to take care of them- 

 selves. In very remote, wild places, to which no white 

 man often penetrates, the appearance of a white-topped 

 wagon will be enough to excite this feeling in the prong- 

 horn, and in such cases it is not unusual for a herd to 

 come up and circle round the strange object heedless 

 of rifle-shots. This curiosity is particularly strong in the 

 bucks during rutting-time, and one method of hunting 

 them is to take advantage of it, and "flag" them up to 

 the hunters by waving a red handkerchief or some other 

 object to and fro in the air. In very wild places they can 

 sometimes be flagged up, even after they have seen the 

 man ; but, elsewhere, the latter must keep himself care- 

 fully concealed behind a ridge or hillock, or in tall grass, 

 and keep cautiously waving the handkerchief overhead. 

 The antelope will look fixedly at it, stamp, snort, start 

 away, come nearer by fits and starts, and run from one 

 side to the other, the better to see it. Sometimes a wary 

 old buck will keep this up for half an hour, and at the 

 end make off; but, again, the attraction may prove too 

 strong, and the antelope comes slowly on until within 



