600 The American Antelope. [ October, 
. even the experienced observer with fresh surprise, and the inex- 
perienced sportsman with chagrin. The horseman riding over 
the trackless wilds of Western Kansas or Colorado is constantly 
observing, far away on the horizon, mere specks of moving life 
bounding away with more than the fleetness of the greyhound, 
till in a few moments they are lost to his gaze. Their watchful 
attention, ever on the alert, will notice the approach of an un- 
usual object even before they themselves are distinguishable from 
the surrounding prairies. Unlike the buffalo, whose power of sight 
is comparatively feeble, but which will scent danger from a very. 
great distance, the antelopes depend almost exclusively upon their 
acute vision for safety. I have frequently watched them, from 
some sheltered spot near at hand, while they have been quietly 
grazing: with almost every mouthful of food, cropped from the 
short, crisp, nutritious buffalo grass that they like so well, the 
suspicious animals raise their heads erect and gaze about them. 
This is especially true of the male, he being most frequently the 
first to apprise a herd of danger ; he also possesses more of that 
curiosity that so often proves fatal. These animals, however, 
readily become accustomed to even the strangest objects if sta- 
tionary or permanent. They will often graze quietly within a 
few hundred yards of a railroad station, nor even show very much 
fear at passing trains ; but their timidity at the approach of human 
beings is rarely lessened. Their instinct has taught them that 
man is their worst enemy. 
Their long association with the buffalo, of which they have 
not the slightest fear, renders them indifferent to the presence of 
domesticated cattle, with which they will mingle freely, feeding 
quietly side by side. It is in such cases that the hunter can 
approach them most easily, as they lose much of their habitual 
watchfulness when in large herds, whether of their own kind, ved 
of buffaloes, or cattle. A friend — a cattle owner on the plains 
— gives an account of a male which became so attached to @ 
herd of cattle that he seldom left them, and for nearly three 
months allowed himself to be driven about with his new-found 
companions, showing his instinctive timidity only at the ap- 
proach of a strange herder. He finally abandoned. the her 
when driven to a new pasture ground. i 
Although so very timid in the feral state, they may be tamed 
with the utmost facility, evincing an unusual degree of aitaka 
for their master, or more especially their mistress. The < 
delicacy of their flesh as food, together with the hardiness 
