ANTILOCAPRA. 



81 



The Prong-horn Antelope, while allied to the Bovidae, resembles 

 the members of the Cervidae by possessing horns with branches, and 

 which are shed every year. The hair is very peculiar, being coarse 

 and brittle, and breaks on the slightest pressure. The Prong-horn is 

 an animal of the plains, and depends for its safety upon its keen 

 eyesight and exceeding fleetness. Few animals can keep up with 

 him as he bounds over the prairies, and his wary nature makes a 

 near approach difficult of accomplishment. Yet his one great weak- 

 ness, curiosity, often nullifies these advantages, and any strange 

 object on his domains proves an irresistible attraction, and his desire 

 to investigate it often costs him his life. Once numerous on our 

 Western Plains, the Prong-buck has already vanished from many 

 localities, and is now met with only in greatly reduced numbers in 

 the comparatively few places it still frequents. 



Fam. III. Aiitilocapridir. Proiig-liorii Antelope. 



Horns branched, deciduous; allied to the Bovidae. 



tfO. Aiitilocapra. 



T -. f?z. p3^3. TU 3-3 _ 

 S-4' U o-o> *V 3 ' M 'P3~ 3 2 ' 



Antilocapra Ord, Jour, de Phys., LXXXVII, 1818, p. 149. Type 



Antilope americana Ord. 

 Dicranocerus H. Smith, Griff., Anim. King., 1827, p. 312. 



FIG. XXV. ANTILOCAPRA A. MEXICANA. MEXICAN PRONG-HORN 



