CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE. 



FEOM the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and 

 from the Gulf of Mexico to about the fiftieth degree of 

 north latitude, this beautiful animal at one time ranged. 

 Now, however, from the same causes as have restricted the 

 habitats of other large American game, the prong-horned 

 antelope will only be found on the great prairies that lay 

 on the eastern margin of the Rocky Mountains, and in the 

 vast plains of Sonora and North-western Mexico ; for, from 

 their wonderful fleetness and extreme watchfulness, horses 

 and hounds are useless in their pursuit. Frequently, how- 

 ever, they are brought within range of the sportsman by 

 waving a colored handkerchief or other unknown object. 

 This must always be done down wind, care at the same 

 time being taken to conceal every part of the person. I 

 can imagine no weapon better suited for killing this game 

 than the new express rifle. In no description of field-sports 

 that I know of will the skill of the stalker be better tried 

 than in pursuit of this handsome indigenous game ; and if 

 your shot should be a running one, and you do your work 

 in a clean and workman-like manner, you will deserve all 

 praise, for you have caused to bite the dust the swiftest, in 

 my belief, of all quadrupeds ; in fact, their speed is such 

 that the eye can scarcely follow the action of their limbs. 

 Yet their gait is not low and close to the ground, but a 

 succession of rather lofty bounds, and performed with such 

 surprising ease, that it causes the beholder to wonder how 

 the frame of any creature can sustain uninjured such a tre- 

 mendous strain. 



