DOMESTICATION. 51 
longer, than the males. Several of my friends have .been more 
successful than I have in their attempts to rear this animal. 
Probably my grounds are peculiarly unfavorable for him, being 
almost entirely forest, though mostly open and devoid of under- 
bushes. There are but a few acres devoid of trees. These were 
most affected by the antelope. My information is that in Kansas, 
and in fact in all other places this side of the mountains where 
they are found in a wild state, those which survive for a month 
or so are tolerably healthy, and if they escape accidents, may be 
expected to live for several years at least. It is manifest that 
experiments have shown that, from some unknown cause, there is 
more hope of rearing this animal on this side of the Rocky Moun- 
tains than on the Pacific Coast, where, in a wild state, they were 
once the most prosperous. 
The Prong Buck is very easily tamed, and soon loses all fear 
of man, seeks his society, and enjoys his company. When taken 
young, and brought up by hand, they become at once attached to 
the one that feeds them. I raised one thus, which was taken 
charge of by a little girl, and nothing delighted it so much as to 
have a play and a romp with her; and in watching them to- 
gether, it was easy to persuade one’s self that the little pet showed 
not only observation and intelligence, but even reflection. He 
assumed he had as much right in the kitchen as any of the do- 
mestics; and if he found the doors open, he enjoyed a visit to the 
parlor, and especially a siesta on the lounge in the library. 
When I turned the wild buck loose, as before stated, I was 
agreeably surprised to observe that he made no attempt to es- 
cape, and did not even dash away, as if greatly alarmed. After 
a few leaps, he trotted away two or three hundred yards, and 
then commenced grazing upon the blue grass. For a few days, 
he would not allow me to approach him. 
Whenever I walked in the park the younger one, which had 
been brought up by hand and was very tame, the moment he 
saw me, no matter how far away, would rush up to me with the 
greatest delight, and rub his head against me in a most affection- 
ate manner, and receive the gratuity, which he always expected, 
with great satisfaction ; and would follow me constantly where- 
ever I went, gamboling around in much the same way as is 
observed in a young dog. Scarcely a week elapsed before I ob- 
served the older one, which was so wild in close confinement, 
following me at a distance. Each day he ventured nearer and 
nearer, till I observed he would not keep more than twenty or 
