184 A Trip on the Prairie. 



But while so much more wary than deer, it is also 

 at times much more foolish, and has certain habits 

 some of which, such as its inordinate curiosity and 

 liability to panic, have already been alluded to that tend 

 to its destruction. Ordinarily, it is a far more difficult 

 feat to kill an antelope than it is to kill a deer, but there 

 are times when the former can be slaughtered in such 

 numbers that it becomes mere butchery. 



The prong-horn is pre-eminently a gregarious animal. 

 It is found in bands almost all the year through. During 

 the two or three days after he has shed his horns and 

 while the new ones are growing the buck retires to some 

 out-of-the-way spot, and while bringing forth her fawns the 

 doe stays by herself. But as soon as possible each again 

 rejoins the band ; and the fawns become members of it at 

 a remarkably early age. In the late fall, when the bitter 

 cold has begun, a large number of these bands collect 

 together, and immense herds are formed which last through- 

 out the winter. Thus at this season a man may travel for. 

 days through regions where antelope are most plentiful 

 during the hot months and never see one ; but if he does 

 come across any they will be apt to be in great num- 

 bers, most probably along the edge of the Bad Lands, 

 where the ground is rolling rather than broken, but where 

 there is some shelter from the furious winter gales. Often 

 they will even come down to the river bottom or find their 

 way up to some plateau. They now always hang closely 

 about the places they have chosen for their winter haunts, 

 and seem very reluctant to leave them. They go in dense 

 herds, and when starved and weak with cold are less shy ; 



