114 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



of the rocks. Raccoons, panthers, wolves, and crows 

 fought for the inexhaustible quantity of game ; geese, 

 turkeys, quails, cranes, ostriches * (for there are 

 ostriches in the States), crowded round us, attracted 

 by the abundance of the game. But the most 

 elegant quadruped, whose innumerable herds pas- 

 ture in perfect liberty on the grassy slopes of the 

 Switzerland of the States, is unquestionably the 

 wild goat, t known to the Indians as the Aperta- 

 choekoos, and to naturalists as the American antelope, 

 or prong-horned antelope {Antilocapra americana) . 



The pioneers who accompanied Colonels Lewis 

 and Clarke on their voyage across the Masserne 

 and Rocky Mountains, were the first to describe 

 this graceful animal. Like the chamois, the creatures 

 are very timid, and never sleep except upon the 

 summit of some rock v^dience they can survey' all 

 the surrounding country. Their sight is so good, 

 and their smell so acute, that it is very difficult to 

 approach within gun-shot of them. Directly they 



* I saw in tlie possession of a New York naturalist two ostriches, 

 one male and the other female. They had been killed in Iowa, near 

 Monks' Fort. They were five feet in height, and four feet and a half 

 in length. Their beaks were five inches long, and were very sharp. 

 They differed very little from the African ostriches. They had been 

 sold for about 200?. each. 



t The wild goat of America is a most beautiful' and graceful crea- 

 ture. Its colours are brown, black, reddish and white, and the fur is 

 long and silky. The male is always larger than the female, and 

 behind each ear is a little black place, whex-e a liquid is deposited, the 

 odour of which is insupportable. A wild goat usually weighs from a 

 hundred and fifty-five to a hundred and seventy pounds. 



