all attempts have been eventually
frustrated by the creature's temper. Buffalo, male or female, are always
more or less dangerous; they cannot be tamed or trusted. They are always
subject to stampede, and once started, nothing, not even sure
destruction, stops them; so in spite of their suitability to the
climate, their hardihood, their delicious meat, and their valuable
robes, the attempts at domesticating the Buffalo have not yet been made
a success.

[Illustration]

A small herd of a dozen or so is kept in a fenced range near the Mammoth
Hot Springs, where the traveller should not fail to try for pictures,
and with them he will see the cowbirds, that in some regions replace the
true buffalo-birds. Perched on their backs or heads or running around
them on the ground are these cattle birds as of yore, like boats around
a man-o'-war, or sea-gulls around a whale; living their lives, snapping
up the tormenting flies, and getting in return complete protection from
every creature big enough to seem a menace in the eyes of the old time
King of the Plains.

THE DOOMED ANTELOPE AND HIS HELIOGRAPH

The Antelope, or Pronghorn, is one of the most peculiar animals in the
world. It is the only known ruminant that has hollow horns on a bony
core as with cattle, and also has them branched and shed each year as in
the Deer.

It is a creature of strangely mixed characteristics, for it has the feet
of a Giraffe, the glands of a goat, the coat of a Deer, the horns of an
ox and Deer combined, the eyes of a Gazelle, the build of an Antelope,
and--the speed of the wind. It is the swiftest four-footed creature
native to the plains, and so far as known there is nothing but a blooded
race horse that can outrun it on a mile.

But the peculiarity that is most likely to catch the eye of the
traveller is the white disc on its rear.

[Illustration: The Heliograph]

The first day I was in the Yellowstone I was riding along the upland
beyond Blacktail Creek with T. E. Hofer. Miles away to the southeast we
saw some white specks showing, flashing and disappearing. Then as far to
the northeasterly we saw others. Hofer now remarked, "Two bunches of
Antelope." Then later there were flashes _between_ and we knew that
these two bands had come together. How?

When you have a chance in a zoo or elsewhere to watch Antelope at short
range you will see the cause of these flashes. By means of a circular
muscle on each buttock they can erect the whi