A Trip on the Prairie. 183 



rifle-shot. This method of hunting, however, is not so 

 much practised now as formerly, as the antelope are 

 getting continually shyer and more difficult to flag. I 

 have never myself shot one in this manner, though I have 

 often seen the feat performed, and have several times 

 tried it myself, but always with the result that after I had 

 made my arm really weak with waving the handkerchief 

 to and fro, the antelope, which had been shifting about 

 just out of range, suddenly took to its heels and made off. 

 No other kind of plains game, except the big-horn, is 

 as shy and sharp-sighted as the antelope ; and both its 

 own habits and the open nature of the ground on which 

 it is found render it peculiarly difficult to stalk. There is 

 no cover, and if a man is once seen by the game the 

 latter will not let him get out of sight again, unless it 

 decides to go off at a gait that soon puts half a dozen 

 miles between them. It shifts its position, so as to keep 

 the hunter continually in sight, Thus, if it is standing 

 on a ridge, and the hunter disappear into a ravine up 

 which he intends to crawl, the antelope promptly gallops 

 off to some other place of observation from which its foe 

 is again visible ; and this is repeated until the animal 

 at last makes up its mind to start for good. It keeps 

 up an incessant watch, being ever on the look-out for 

 danger, far or near ; and as it can see an immense dis- 

 tance, and has its home on ground so level that a horse- 

 man can be made out a mile off, its attention is apt to be 

 attracted when still four or five rifle-shots beyond range, 

 and after it has once caught a glimpse of the foe, the 

 latter might as well give up all hopes of getting the 

 game. 



