MAMMALS. 



51 



The Mexicans of this region, having but few fire-arms, and being very much afraid of the Indians, do not often hunt them. 

 Indeed, thirty miles west of the village of Sdnla Cruz, these animals seemed to be so unaccustomed to the sound of a gun that 

 we have known them, when the hunter was concealed, to be fired ai seve al times before becoming sufficiently alarmed to take 

 flight. 



*' During our elay at Los Ncgales in the n'cnth of June, particularly the latter part, the heat during the day was quite oppres- 

 sive ; and the valleys of the streams, with their thick undergrowth affording a good protection from the rays of the sun, were 

 the favorate places of resort for tJiese animals. Very early in the morning they were found feeding on tJie hills, but retired 

 under the shelter of the bushes about ten o'clock, after which time they could bo killed as easily as rabbits, by the hunter 

 passing through the undergrowth with a gun chargod with buck-ehot. They would rarely spring from tlielr concealment until 

 approached within twenty paces. 



" At this season, June, the horns of tlie bucks were but a few inches in length, and the females generally far advanced in 

 pregnancy. We observed often the young of the previous year still fol'ovving the doe, which was about to bring forth another 

 progeny." — (Dr. Kennerly.) 



65. CERVUS MACROTIS, Say, (p. 656.) Black tailed Deer. 



" We did not observe this animal until we reached the vicinity of the valley of the Corralltos river, and here it was not very 

 common. It was rarely seen in the immediate valley of the river, except late in the af\ornoon, just before sunset, when it 

 came to drink, but preferred the neighboring mountains or hills. In the San Luis mountains and the Sierra Madrc they were 

 very numerous; but we noticed, while near these localities, that this species is much more apt to be driven from its accustomed 

 haunts than tlie other, (Cervus virginianus .) In a few weeks, altliough at first equally as numerous, if not more so, than the 

 latter, it disappeared almost entirely, while the red deer became only a little more shy, but its numbers did not seem to diminish. 



" It is somewhat curious that we did not observe the black-tailed deer aRer leaving the Sierra Madre, although it is found in 

 great numbers in California. The belt of country traversed by us, included between that mountain and the lllth meridian, 

 seemed to be almost, if not entirely, without this animal, while in several localities the Virginian deer and antelope were both 

 very common," — (Dr. Kennerly.) 



66. ANTILOCAPRA AMERICANA, Ord, (p. 665.) Prong Horn Antelope; CaWee. 

 This species is abundant in Texas, althougli no skins were collected by the survey. 



" On the plains lying between ihe Nueces and the Rio Grande, the great mustang range, and where the common deer is very 

 abundant, but few antelopes are to be seen. It is not till west of the Pecos is reached that droves are observed dotting the most 

 open and naked prairies, which it undoubtedly prefers and habitually inhabits; it is no rare occurrence, however, to find it '^ 

 mountain valleys, from which it will sometimes take to the mountains, but usually from fright, not choice. Being shy, and 

 quick to take alarm, it always keeps at a gre^t distance. Occasionally one, either dumfounded with fear or overcome with 



curiosity, will come right up to a train by a series of advances and reconnaissances, while the rest of the herd are lost to the 

 ^i^ht in an opposite direction. It is on plains destitute of most forms of vegetation except grass that tlie largest herds of this 

 animal are to be found. When it is considered that such prairies cover an extent of fifty or even one hundred miles in some 

 directions without water, its adaptability to the regions inhabited is manifest. There is no bond of sympathy between the 

 anttlope and the deer, for they are never seen herding together, and seldom occupying common ground. The absence of water 

 and luxuriant grass in the antelope region may account in a measure fur the rarity of the deer. Though rnucL scattered w;.ca 

 feeding quietly, a herd flocks together as it runs off. The most remarkable habit of the antelope is its tendency to take ana 

 continue but one direction in its flight ; so determined and obstinate is its disposition in this respect as to bo impelled aci-^J 

 arroyos, over mountains, and even through trains. To start it as a common deer is an unheard of thing, due to watchfuhiess 

 rendered easy by the openness of the country inhabited. Shades of color varying from a deep fawn to an almost pure white 

 are observable at a distant view in the same herd Its motion is more rapid as well as more regular than that of the deer, never 

 leaping like the latter animal. Its fleih is also juicier and finer ; its superiority is appreciable even by one who can make no 

 pretension to an epicurean taste. Frontier men Imve assured me that they have t;abred the antelope on ordinary hori>es during 

 sleety weather, when they say it is unable to keep its feet. The wonderment that this animal sometimes expresses, and its 

 apparent inability to see things aright, leads to the suggestion of some peculiarity in the eye, either of construction or position ; 



base of the horn, would impress 



An 



allusion to its preference for open prairies as a habitat has already been made. This region, it will Le remcajbered, is the home 

 of the prairie dog, and its dependents, the rattlesnake, the owl, and the llolbrookia. The antelope is said ta have an abidiiig 

 hatred for the rattlesnake, which it decoys first into a fatriking attitude, and then utterly annihilates by leaping into the air and 



coming down upon it with its four sharp-rutting hoofs placed together." — (J. H.*Clark.) 



