176 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



for its nutrition, nor any of the blooming plants. 

 She was eating, and plainly with relish, simply 

 the gray-green bitter leaves of the shrubby 

 scattered sage. On reaching the low summit of 

 the prairie swell she paused for a little while on 

 the skyline, then started on a run for a water- 

 hole about two miles distant. 



A few seconds later a fox-like head peeped 

 over a little ridge a few hundred feet from the 

 kids. Then a distant bunch of sagebrush 

 transformed itself into another moving form, 

 and two coyotes trotted into the scene. Evi- 

 dently these coyotes knew that somewhere 

 near two youngsters were hidden. They fol- 

 lowed the mother's trail by scent and kept their 

 eyes open, looking for the youngsters. 



Old antelope have perhaps more numerous 

 scent glands than other big wild animals, but 

 evidently a young antelope gives off little or no 

 scent. Its youthful colour blends so well with its 

 surroundings when it lies down that it is diffi- 

 cult to see it. Once the young flatten out and 

 freeze upon the grassy earth they offer but little 

 that is revealing even to the keenest eyes and noses. 



Both coyotes paused within a few feet of one 

 of the kids without either seeing or scenting it. 

 It was flattened out between two clumps of sage- 

 brush. Finally, unable to find the youngsters, the 

 coyotes trotted off along the mother's trail. 



