WILDLIFE CONSERVATION 



785 



It is well known that the pronghorned antelope is found on the 

 continent of North America and nowhere else in the world. This crea- 

 ture, combining as it does some of the characters of the cow and the 

 deer, is unique. It is the only member of its species, genus, and fam- 

 ily. While North America shares such animals as the bear, deer, moose, 



.ts^ 



Fig. 410. — Prong;horn antelope, Antilocapra aniericana. A strictly American ani- 

 mal of the open plains and foothills. 



elk, and beaver with the Old World, the pronghorn is peculiarly our 

 own. Like the buffalo, the antelope was found very widely over the 

 plains, although its range was not so extensive as that of the buffalo, 

 and by some authorities it is estimated to have been equally abundant. 



In order to obtain a hint of the number of passenger pigeons in the 

 early part of the nineteenth century let us examine a calculation of 



