EARLY DAY STORIES. 79 



though they had access to shelter, they never used it. The 

 vension of the antelope has a very marked gamy taste, prob- 

 ably from the fact of their eating weeds, and consequently 

 it is not relished by most people as well as the vension of 

 deer or elk; however, some people, and especially old hunt- 

 ers, prefer it to any other meat. They were somewhat mi- 

 gratory in habit, and generally did not stay here through 

 the winter in great numbers. They would get together in 

 large flocks in August and September, and while some would 

 remain, the greater number would go west, to return again 

 in April and May, to rear their young here during the sum- 

 mer. They were not very wild and wary when found here 

 by the first settlers, but they very soon became so. I am 

 taking much more space to describe the habits of the ante- 

 lope than will be given to the description of any other ani- 

 mal, partly because there is a good deal of misinformation 

 concerning the antelope, and partly because our county was 

 named for the fleet, graceful little animal that once covered 

 its prairies in such numbers. The male antelope has horns 

 that when full grown attain the length of twelve or per- 

 haps fourteen inches, each horn supplied with one small 

 prong, hence they are often called the prong-horn. The 

 females are hornless. Unlike other animals, such as the 

 goat, sheep, cow, buffalo and others that have a hollow or 

 pith horn, the antelope shed their horns annually. All ani- 

 mals of the deer family, such as the elk, moose, caribou, 

 common deer and many others have solid horns, and these 

 shed their horns in the winter, and grow them in full again 

 during the spring and summer. The antelope shed their 

 horns in the spring, the new horn growing inside the old 

 one, and the old shell becoming loose, falls off. When the 

 old shell is shed, the new horn is soft and partly covered 

 with scattering hairs. The new horn soon grows to attain 

 full size, and the outside hardens, forming a new shell. 



Knowledge to be valuable should be exact, but some 



