52 THE ANTELOPE OF AMERICA. 



thirty feet in the rear, and would so follow me for an hour or 

 more, if mj^ walk should continue that long. I now began to notice 

 him, and throw him corn, which he took with great apparent 

 relish, nor was it long before he would venture to take corn from 

 my hand, though Avith timidity, and he never became so entirely 

 divested of fear as was the younger one. I know of no member 

 of the Gervus family, when taken wild at three years of age, that 

 will ever become so tame as did this Prong Buck in a few 

 months. 



I may quote some remarks of Dr. Canfield, in the paper above 

 referred to, upon a young antelope which he had raised in do- 

 mestication. He says : " He used to follow the ranch dogs, and 

 in the night, if they chased coyotes, he would run after coyotes 

 also, always ahead of the dogs, for nothing could outrun him." 



But this antelope would not only hunt coyotes in the night 

 with the ranch dogs, but he was fond of hunting other game in 

 the daytime with the doctor, and so followed him on his hunting 

 excursions ; and on one occasion when twelve miles from home 

 they became separated, when the antelope went home alone, 

 where his master found him on his return. 



Dr. Canfield tells us that be had another antelope at the same 

 time which never became so tame as the fii'st, and after the death 

 of the first became uneasy, and finally deserted the ranch and re- 

 lapsed to the wild state ; but the wild ones " abounded every- 

 where in all the plains and valleys of the western slope down to 

 the Pacific Ocean." 



There is evidently a wide difference among individuals, in 

 their adaptability to domestication, in sagacity and intelligence. 

 Generally, however, it readily becomes attached to one who 

 shows it kindness, and it would be unsafe to assert that long con- 

 tinued domestication would not develop those traits in as great 

 a degree as they are ordinarily found in that great friend of the 

 human race, the dog. 



In intelligence, too, and reflective powers, they are exceptional. 

 The young specimen of which I have spoken, was allowed to fol- 

 low me from one park to another, and even out of the parks into 

 the fields and meadows. He frequently followed me into the 

 park where the elk or wapiti were kept. These would chase 

 him away, when he would look to me for protection, which could 

 not always be made effectual, for they would watch for opportu- 

 nities to make dashes at him, when he would escape to the out- 

 side of the band of elk, but when he saw me approach the gate 



