COURSING- THE ANTELOPE WITH GREYHOUNDS. 



By M. E. Allison. 



^HE Antelope is the fleetest animal that lives, as well 

 as the wariest and most cunning; and one of the 

 grandest sports that this continent affords is that of 

 «f^ coursing him with Greyhounds. For a merry party 

 of sportsmen to mount their spirited horses, on a clear, 

 cold, frosty, winter morning; to bring out the eager hounds; 

 to speed away over the prairies for ten or twenty miles; to 

 sight a band of Antelope, slip the dogs, and follow them 

 through such a grand race as must ensue; to watch" the 

 startled game in its efforts to escape, and the efforts of the 

 hounds to come up with it; to head it off at every turn; to 

 follow and encourage the dogs, and at last to come to 

 their aid, after they have pulled down the largest and fleet- 

 est buck in the bunch — all these afford grander and more 

 exhilarating sport than any I have ever indulged in. 



As may readily be imagined, none but the best-bred 

 Greyhounds, and the lightest-footed, toughest, and best- 

 staying horse, can cope with the Prong-horn; and happy is 

 the man who owns, or may even follow, a pack of these 

 noble dogs that can pull him down. 



I have spent many years in breeding and training Grey- 

 hounds, and flatter myself that I now own one of the finest 

 packs in the West. I have had many grand runs with 

 them, at the mere recollection of which the blood leaps to 

 my brain; and I can almost see the little brown-and- white 

 streaks of venison drawing away across the prairie, with 

 the long, lithe forms of the great Greyhounds stretched 

 out and vaulting through the air so swiftly, so lightly, so 

 eagerly, that their feet scarce touch the earth. I can feel 

 the hot breath of the wiry little cow-pony on my thighs as 



