horseback. Perhaps they will let him approach to
within a short distance, and then away they float on a line at
right-angles to their former retreat. To come up with them, indeed, as
an American writer observes, is as hopeful an undertaking as trying to
run down a telegraphic message. The only way to get near them is by a
stratagem. They are not afraid of horses, and the hunter, by walking
behind his horse, may often approach a herd without being discovered,
provided the wind blows from them. He then pickets his horse with a
sharp stake, and sinking down in the grass he ties a bright-coloured
handkerchief to the end of his ramrod; he then crawls forward on hands
and knees, dragging his rifle, till he approaches still nearer, when he
remains concealed, and lifts his flag in the air. The antelopes, on
catching sight of it, stop browsing, and raising their heads, peer
towards it, exhibiting no signs of fear. For a moment he drops his
flag; the beautiful creatures then resume their repast, but their
curiosity gets the better of their prudence. Again they look forward,
when the flag is once more raised and waved slowly backward and forward.
The antelopes have now their curiosity excited to the utmost; for a
moment they stop irresolute, then advance a few steps snuffing the air.
Once more the flag sinks out of sight; they seem to be asking each other
what is the cause of the strange sight they have seen. Again it is
raised; they draw nearer and nearer, till they are within range of the
hunter's deadly rifle; he fires, and almost to a certainty one of the
beautiful animals springs into the air and tumbles head-foremost on the
ground. For a moment the survivors run off from their fallen friend,
but seldom go far. Once more they return within easy rifle-shot of the
hunter. Unless, however, he requires the meat, he must be greatly
lacking in right feeling if he slaughters uselessly so beautiful an
animal. The antelope becomes so easily confused, that when met on the
prairies it frequently runs headlong into the midst of the travellers.
The creatures are often killed by being surrounded, when the whole herd
are driven into an enclosed spot and become the easy prey of the hungry
hunters.

The Bighorn, or Mountain Sheep.

Amid the almost inaccessible peaks of the Rocky Mountains, herds of
animals with enormous horns may be seen leaping from rock to rock,
sometimes descending at one spring from a height of twenty or thi