ON THE PRAIRIE 13 



tiously 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 rifle-shot. This 

 method of hunting, however, is not so much 

 practised now as formerly, as the antelope 

 are getting continually shyer and more dif- 

 ficult 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 



