HABIT. 47 



ated ; he ran but a little way, and not at full speed, when he 

 stopped and began to pick the grass. 



Whenever this animal is excited in play, by fright or by rage, 

 the hair of the white patch on the rump rises up and assumes a 

 more or less curved radial position, from a central point on each 

 side of the vertebrae, as we sometimes see two radial points on 

 the human head. From these points the hairs point in every 

 direction, only they are as nearly erect as their curved radial 

 position will permit. It is impossible to give a just idea of this 

 appearance by words, nor could I help the matter much by a 

 drawing. It is not the position of the hairs alone which we ad- 

 mire, but their immaculate whiteness completes the beauty of 

 the display. How much the flashing of the great black eyes 

 augments one's sense of admiration, the observer may himself be 

 at a loss to determine. As we shall hereafter see, under similar 

 excitement, the corresponding white patch on the rump of the. 

 elk is elevated, but the hairs do not assume the radial posi- 

 tion of the others. Nor is this uniform in degree on the ante- 

 lope. On some specimens which I have observed, this curved 

 and radial position of the hairs Avas almost entirely wanting, and 

 the hairs were simply elevated to vertical positions as observed 

 on the elk under similar circumstances. 



Notwithstanding its astonishing fleetness, the Prong Buck can- 

 not, or rather I should say does not know how to leap over high 

 obstructions like animals which inhabit wooded countries. This 

 is well illustrated by Captain Bonneville's account of the manner 

 in which the Shoshokoe Indians on the Upper Lewis River cap- 

 ture the antelope, as given in Irving's " Bonneville," pp. 259, 

 260. I quote : " Sometimes the diggers aspire to nobler game, and 

 succeed in entrapping the antelope, the fleetest animal of the 

 prairies. The process by which this is effected is somewhat 

 singular. When the snow has disappeared, says Captain Bonne- 

 ville, and the ground becomes soft, the women go into the thick- 

 est fields of wormwood, and pulling it up in great quantities 

 construct with it a hedge, about three feet high, inclosing 

 about a hundred acres. A single opening is left for the admis- 

 sion of the game. This done, the women conceal themselves 

 behind the wormwood, and wait patiently for the coming of the 

 antelope, which sometimes enter this spacious trap in consider- 

 able numbers. As soon as they are in, the women give the sig- 

 nal, and the men hasten to play their part. But one of them 

 enters the pen at a time, and after chasing the terrified animals 



