MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 227 



cisco forest. West of the Verde River I also found young fawns 

 in open, hilly country in 1887 and 1888. The season of birth is more 

 protracted than at the north. Three females killed on the MogoUon 

 mesa March 10, March 11, and xVpril 1, 1886, contained 2 fetuses 

 each, the last noted as large. A female (No. 1889, Mearns' col- 

 lection), killed June 15, 1892, at Whitewater, near Monument No. 61, 

 contained two fetuses — male and female — ready for birth; another 

 in the same region contained :i single small fetus June 1, 1892, and 

 on September 23, 1893, I saw a female with small twin fawns close 

 to the lower timber line and Monument No. 64, at the east base of the 

 San Luis Mountains. Many antelope with (usually) twin fawns 

 were seen around San Francisco Mountain, and also on the Mexican 

 Bordeir, during the month of June, which is probablj' the month 

 during which most antelopes ai'e born in those latitudes. 



Unborn fetuses of antelope and deer are regarded as table deli- 

 cacies by the Indians of the Southwest. The young are hidden by 

 the mother at birth, and often fall a prey to wolves and coyotes when 

 she is absent feeding. When the fawns are following their mother, 

 and the latter is shot, the young will follow the hunter, and immedi- 

 ately become tame, making pets. In 1884, Capt. Gerald Russell kept 

 a pet antelope at Fort Verde. I found that it was acutely sensitive to 

 sounds. When walking it liked to follow persons, especially women 

 and children ; but it was easily startled by the fall of a small pebble, 

 and would flee from the sound in terror, imraediatelj' returning. It 

 was often pursued by dogs of the post, but could easily outrun any 

 of them, seeking shelter with the soldiers in the barracks when weary 

 of running from the dogs. It entered houses during the heat of the 

 day, and I sometimes found it sleeping on my bed. 



When the country was first settled by the whites. Dr. Elliott Coues 

 found an abundance of antelope around old Fort Whipple, Arizona, 

 where he obtained specimens. I saw a small herd about the Point of 

 Rocks, on Granite Creek, near AVhipple, November 6 to 13, 1887. On 

 November 14, 1884, signs of them were seen from Cataract Creek to 

 Pine Springs, along the canyon of the Colorado River, in northern 

 Arizona ; and the species was seen in considerable numbers about the 

 latter place later. Two were seen on a bluff near Peach Springs, 

 Arizona, November 19, 1884. A band of several hundred was seen 

 between Aubrey Station and Prescott, Arizona, November 21, 1884. 

 On the following day several herds were found in Big Chino Valley, 

 between Sullivan's ranch* and Garland and Ross's ranch. One herd, 

 startled by the pack train at the rear, crossed the trail in front of me, 

 passing through a herd of range cattle almost as wild. After reach- 

 ing the summit of a ridge the antelope stopped, faced about, and 

 took a good look at us before passing out of sight. On November 23, 



