1 66 S/ Wv' TING A D VENTURES 



run well, course like a hare, and, when hard pressed, boldly 

 charge the horses or riders, and even attempt to pierce them 

 with their sharp but tiny horns ; and even when captured they 

 buck and plunge so violently that the attempt to lead them to 

 a rendezvous is most amusing-. Calves not older than a month 

 or two will readily follow a horseman if they are separated 

 from their dams; but when they get beyond that age they are 

 too knowing not to distinguish the difference between their 

 own kindred and the steed. Hunters who wish to obtain 

 calves for menageries or private persons often resort to this 

 method of capture, as the animals are more likely to live than 

 if they were driven hard for several miles before being lassoed; 

 and it is said that if a person breathes into their nostrils when 

 they are caught they become tame at once, and will follow his 

 horse for several miles like a dog. I have known them to 

 follow horsemen out of a herd after a short run, and trot 

 behind them for several miles without making an effort to 

 escape. 



Thousands of them are captured alive annually by being 

 run down with horses, but the greater number die, owing to 

 the severe manner in which they were chased,, or else to their 

 <'-rief at being separated from their kindred and the nutritious 



o o i 



grasses and freedom of the plains. I have seen a troop of 

 cavalry lasso one hundred of them in two days, and bring 

 them to the barracks, and although they had plenty of room 

 in a corral to run about, and an abundance of hay and grass, 

 few of them lived more than a week. The same mortality was 

 noticeable among those captured by expert lassoers and 

 regular hunters, so it is evident that they cannot stand 

 much hardship. 



The calves can be domesticated readily, if treated kindly, 

 and when the bulls reach adult age they are said to be as good 

 as oxen for ploughing; but they have the great fault of being 

 stubborn, and when once they take it into their heads to go 

 in a certain direction nothing can prevent, them except a wall 

 or a bullet. One or two generations of domestication might 

 break them of this habit, however, and they could then be 

 made into valuable beasts of burden, while the cows would prove; 



