308 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



than the Common Deer, and less than the Mule Deer. The flesh is 

 seldom fat, and in flavour it is far inferior to any other of the spe- 

 cies."* 



It is probable that the above described Deer has been introduced 

 into Spain from California. In Bewick's History of Quadrupeds,! 

 page 145, we have the following information : " The Fallow-Deer, 

 with some variation, is found in almost every country of Europe. 

 Those of Spain are as large as Stags, but darker; their necks are 

 also more slender; and their tails, which are longer than those of 

 ours, are black above, and white beneath" 



The Prong-horned Antelope is found in great numbers on the plains 

 and the high-lands of the Missouri. It was to Messieurs Lewis and 

 Clark that we were first indebted for a particular account of this beau- 

 tiful-animal. " Of all the animals we have seen," say they, " the An- 

 telope seems to possess the most wonderful fleetness. Shy and timo- 

 rous they generally repose only on the ridges, which command a view 

 of all the approaches of an enemy. The acuteness of their sight dis- 

 tinguishes the most distant danger ; the delicate sensibility of their 

 smell defeats the precautions of concealment ; and when alarmed, 

 their rapid career seems more like the flight of birds than the move- 

 ments of an earthly being. This fleet and quick sighted animal is 

 generally the victim of its curiosity. When they first see the hun- 

 ters they run with great velocity : if he lies down on the ground and 

 lifts up his arm, his hat, or his foot, the Antelope returns on a light 

 trot to look at the object, and sometimes goes and returns two or 

 three times till he approaches within reach of the rifle. "\ 



The Indians near the Rocky Mountains hunt these animals on 

 horseback, and shoot them with arrows. "The Mandans' mode of 

 hunting them is to form a large, strong pen or fold, from which a 

 fence made of bushes gradually widens on each side. The animals 

 are surrounded by the hunters, and gently driven towards this pen, 

 in which they imperceptibly find themselves enclosed, and are then 

 at the mercy of the hunters."§ 



The Antelopes go to rut about the 20th. of September ; and bring 

 forth two young about the 1st. of June. At this last mentioned season 

 the females herd together, apart from the males. 



The great body of the Antelopes spend the summer in the plains 

 east of the Missouri, and in the autumn return to the Black Moun- 

 tains, where they subsist on leaves and shrubbery during the winter, 

 and resume their migrations in the spring. || 



Big-homed Sheep, or Argali. "Certain quadrupeds of this genus," 

 says Pennant, " were observed in California by the missionaries in 

 1697 ; one as large as a calf of one or two years old, with a head like 

 a Stag, and horns like a Ram. A second kind was larger, and varied 

 in colour : some being white, others black, and furnished with very 

 good wool. The Fathers called both Sheep, from their great resem- 

 blance to them."f 



In Venega's History of California, they are also noticed ; and they 

 were seen by Mr. M'Gillivray of Canada, who gives the dimensions 

 o{ a male, taken on the spot where he was killed : 



* Vol. ii, p. 166, 



■j- New-York edition. 



* History of the Expedition, vol. i, p. 75. — Id. p. 202. 

 § Idem, vol. i, p. 124- 



|| Id. p 110. 



^f Arct. Zool. vol, i, p. 12 



