Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/706

686 and arrow. The flesh of the prong-horn in autumn, when it is in the best condition, is good food, especially if the animal be young.

In May and June the prong-horn brings forth two fawns, which are of a dun-color, and not spotted like the fawns of the deer. For these the mother displays great affection, and defends them with vigor against the attacks of enemies. She is sometimes able to beat off even the wolf; but not always, and hence many of these little creatures are annually destroyed by this hungry animal. The prong-horn, when taken young, is easily tamed. The writer has seen a tame one. It was thoroughly domesticated, and, whatever its wanderings during the day, it returned to the farm-house at night. It allowed itself to be freely handled, even by strangers. It followed the children as they went to school, and then returned to its home again, alone; all showing how easily it can be added to the stock of domestic animals of the farm.

Our other species of antelope looks so much like a goat that it has been named the mountain-goat (Aplocerus montanus, Fig. 6). It is about the size of the domestic sheep, and has small, round, slightly



recurved horns, which are ringed at the base, and which are jet-black in color, and polished, and are much like those of the chamois; the body is covered with long, white hair, and there is a long pendent tuft of hair under the chin. This antelope lives on the rugged portions of the Rocky Mountains, and seldom descends into the plains. It leaps from crag to crag, much after the manner of the chamois of the Alps, and in many portions of the mountains is secured with great difficulty. The flesh of this species is rather dry, and is not so highly prized as that of the other animals described in this article. It may be added here that the hair, or covering of the body, is of two kinds, the one being long and straight, and the other, which forms a thick, close under-coat, being a sort of fine silk-like wool.