large portion of his winter supply of
food, while his skin is manufactured into clothing, the leather from it
being especially soft and pliable. From the settlers in the western
provinces he receives little mercy, as, without hesitation, he leaps
their fences, banqueting on their growing corn or vegetables; and, after
doing all the mischief in his power, by his activity generally again
makes his escape. No animal surpasses in beauty the young fawn, the fur
of which is of a ruddy brown tint, ornamented with white spots arranged
in irregular lines, merging occasionally into wide stripes.

Like others of his tribe, the male is excessively combative when meeting
others of his own species; and a story is told of three animals thus
encountering each other in a desert, when all their horns becoming
entangled, they remained fixed, unable to separate, till they sank
together on the ground, their skulls and skeletons afterwards being
discovered, thus giving evidence of the combat and its fatal result.

The Antelope.

No animal of the American wilds surpasses the antelope in beauty. The
little creatures congregate in herds of many thousands, though, from the
exterminating war waged against them by the Indians, they have greatly
decreased in numbers. The size of the antelope is about that of the
common red-deer doe; the colour somewhat between buff and fawn, shaded
here and there into reddish-brown, and a patch of pure white on the
hind-quarters. This gives rise to the expression of the hunter, when he
sees it flying before him, that the creature is "showing its clean
linen." The ears are placed far back on the head, are very long, and
curved so much that at a distance they appear like horns, while the
horns themselves appear as if coming out of the animal's eyes; they are
long and slender, curving slightly backwards, and have no branches,
except a little bud, which is developed when the creature is about two
years old. The chief peculiarity of the animal is its lack of a dewlap.

The feet have no rudimentary hoofs like the deer, yet this want in no
way interferes with its speed. Often the creature may be seen for a
moment browsing not fifty yards off, the next it has dwindled to a mere
speck, and is in another lost to sight. They do not leap like deer, but
run with level backs, as sheep do, their legs glancing faster than sight
can follow. In vain the hunter attempts to follow the rapid movements
of the creatures on