PRONGHORN OF THE PLAINS 183 
play together. Frequently one of the males is 
the lively leader of twenty or thirty. At other 
times the old antelopes play, go through a series 
of marches and countermarches. They race 
back and forth and over short circles. When 
thus engaged they commonly have sentinels 
posted on the outskirts. 
Most other animals appear to forget possible 
enemies while playing, but the nervous ante- 
lope, with big open spaces round it, appears 
never to be quite in repose. 
Depending upon speed rather than upon 
stealth, fighting ability, or concealment, as a 
means of escaping enemies, and living in the 
plains with a magnificence of unobstructed dis- 
tances, it has learned to be watchful, to use sen- 
tinels, and to flee even when danger is afar. 
Usually when the antelope lies down it 
selects a spot well away from any ravine, bluff, 
willow clump, or sagebrush thicket that could 
conceal an enemy or that would enable an enemy 
to approach it closely unseen. 
Under most conditions the female appears 
to be the acknowledged leader. In the majority 
of instances in which I have watched moving 
flocks of antelope—fleeing small numbers or a 
number of alarmed antelope preparing to move— 
it was under female leadership. 
The pronghorn lives in a home territory. 
