210 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



The ¥2im\\y Antilocapridce is unique/ It combines pecul- 

 iarities of the giraffes, the goats, the Antelope, and the Deer. 

 It consists of a single genus, Antilocapra (Ord, 1818), and this 

 consists of one species, found only in North America. There- 

 fore the characteristics of the animal are the characteristics of 

 the genus and of the Family. 



The American Antelope is a ruminant, which, like the 

 giraffe, has two hoofs on each foot; like the goat, it has a gall- 

 bladder and a system of smell-glands; like the Deer, it has 4 

 teats and a coat of hair, with an undercoat of wool; like the 

 goat, it has hollow horns on a bony core, yet, as in the Deer, 

 these horns are branched, and are shed each year. 



SIZE AND The largest buck Antelope in the Zoological Park, New 

 York,^ stands 37J inches (952 mm.) at the shoulder; has a 

 head and body length of 47I inches (1,213 mm.) ; tail, 3I inches 

 (89 mm.), A fair-sized buck stands 36 inches (914 mm.) at 

 the shoulder — the top of the head rising a foot higher — and 

 weighs about 100 pounds. A four-months'-old buck which I 

 weighed in Jackson's Hole in October, 1898, was 60 pounds, 

 and stood 28 inches at the shoulder. A large one killed by 

 E. S. Dodge, of Oracle, Ariz., weighed 125 pounds.® The 

 females are smaller and lighter. 



COLOUR The colour of the adult male Antelope is a rich tan, 



varied with pure white patches, as shown, that is to say, the 

 sides of face, nape of neck, base of ears, 2 bars on throat, breast, 

 belly, rump, and inside of limbs are white. The upper part of 

 the muzzle, the patch under each ear, the eyes, horns, hoofs, 

 and sometimes the mane, are black. 



The female is similar in colour, but the black areas are 

 less, and those under the ears are often lacking. Dr. W. 

 T. Hornaday has a large male head also without these black 



^As these pages are in press, M. W. Lyon, Jr., of U. S. Nat. IMus., gives exce/- 

 lent reasons for reducing this Family to a subfamily of Bovidae, with which it agrees in 

 all important parts of its structure. See Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 1619, Vol. 

 XXXrV, Aug. II, 1908. 



^ W. T. Hornaday, Am. Nat. Hist., 1904, p. 117. 



® Recreation Magazine, October, 1898, p. 307. 



