PRONG-HORNS 



perfect contentment. As I had not been ob- 

 served by the antelope I concealed myself and 

 watched. After the fawns had fed for some 

 time their foster-mother led them away to a 

 sheltered spot further down the stream. She 

 licked their coats as they stumbled along in 

 front of her. Presently they lay down but a 

 few feet from the bank. The doe stood and 

 watched them for a while and then sprang for- 

 ward and ran some distance over the prairie 

 where she joined several others that were brows- 

 ing upon the short grass. About noon two 

 Omaha Indians chanced to be passing that way 

 and carried away the dead animal to their tem- 

 porary camp. 



I was much interested in the little fawns and 

 their foster-mother. I decided not to take them 

 home, for I knew they would fare better and have 

 more chance to live in their natural haunts and 

 under the loving care of their foster-mother. 

 Perhaps she had lost her own little ones. Many 

 are killed by wolves and other wild animals of 

 the plains in the first few days of life while they 

 are entirely helpless and depend upon escaping 

 the notice of enemies by lying flat on the ground 

 [4-] 



