ISPT T riJOf'EEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAE MUSEUM. K.l) 



Elk wcivo sliot ill Humboldt Couiity in December, 18S5, and biouj^lit to 

 Eureka, where I saw them. It has probably entirely disappeared from 

 its former haunts about the eastern base of Mount Shas'U. 



Family ANTILOCAPEID..E. Tin: Prong-uoun Antelope. 



Antilocapra americana Ord. J'rong-hin'ii Axttlopc. 



Like the preceding, this species was once abundant in nearly all the 

 open country of California. It is but a few years since it disappeared 

 from the Sacramento Valley, where it lived in great numbers. It is not 

 now found west of the Sierras in the northern part of the State. . Along 

 the eastern slope, from the Klamath lakes southward, it is yet compar- 

 atively common. I saw some in 1883 that had been killed on the plains 

 lying northeast of Mount Shasta, and met with it frequently in Lassen 

 County in 1884. There it was usually found on the open, sage-covered 

 meadows intersi^ersed through the pine forests, and was sometimes 

 found back among the pines, a mile or more from any open glade. The 

 sheep-herders of the region said that their young were often found in 

 June. 



The skins of Antelopes I killed at that season were unfit for preserva 

 tiou, owing to the looseness of the hair. 



Family BOVIDyE. Cattle. 



Ovis canadensis Shaw. Bighorn ; Mountain Sheep. 



As a further illustration of the disappearance of large mammals from 

 regions where they were once abuudant, I quote the following, written 

 by Dr. Kewberry, a little more than twenty- five years ago: 



'^ On the slopes and shoulders of Mount Shasta the Ovis moniana ex- 

 ists in large numbers, so much so that one spur of the mountain has 

 been named 'Sheep Eock,' and there the hunters are always sure of 

 finding them." 



All this is changed. There is probably not a single Bighorn remaining 

 either on Shasta or its outlying spur, Sheep Rock. I had the i)rivilege 

 of traveling over every part of this particular section with the Topo- 

 graphical Division of the U. S. Geological Survey during the summer 

 of 1883, and we could find no traces of its presence. Eesident hunters 

 reported it as having disappeared, none having been seen for more than 

 six years. Its former abundance at Sheep Eock was attested by the 

 great number of its horns and bones, which were scattered about every- 

 where. Prof. Gilbert I'hompson, in charge of our party, pointed out to 

 me a complete skeleton of this animal at the foot of the Mud Creek ghi- 



