no THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



In captivity the animal now under review does very well, and 

 had it not been for the uncertain temperament of the bulls, it might 

 have been introduced among British park animals, although, to 

 say the best, its value from an ornamental standpoint is not great. 

 Either one or two young ones are produced at a birth. 



PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE.— This Antelope (Fig. 85) is one 

 of the very few species which are found in the New World, being 

 a resident of North America. The photograph shows a male and 

 female, the lower figure being that of the male, with horns just 

 growing. As the name implies, the horns are branched and these 

 are shed annually. This is interesting to observe, because by reason 

 of these two characteristics it is distinguished from the whole of the 

 remaining Hollow-Horned Ruminants. 



The Prongbuck, as it is also called, attains a height of about 

 thirty-six inches at the shoulder. It stands erect (as the female in 

 Fig. 85 displays), is pleasing in appearance, and has a chestnut 

 coat with white on the under parts and the hind-quarters. The dark- 

 brownish face is topped with white, as are also the ears, cheeks and 

 chin. Three bars of russet-yellow across the throat complete the 

 dress. Although an Antelope — and it is often thus designated 

 in America — the structure of its horns remind one strikingly 

 of those possessed by the Sheep and Goats. They measure 

 about twelve inches in length, are flattened from side to side, 

 and bend backwards at the tips. There is a short branch 

 thrown out from about the middle of the horn, and this is directed 

 outwards. 



The Prongbuck is a fast runner but a bad jumper, the result, 

 as Mr. Protheroe states, of its life on the prairies, where obstacles 

 are few and far between. It is shy and timid in its habits, and it 

 needs a practised stalker to successfully get within gunshot of it. 

 It is very keen-sighted, and yet in spite of these credentials we 

 learn with regret that it is "rapidly approaching the point of 

 extinction, and it is now only found in the more remote western 

 regions." 



Mr. Ernest Ingersoll says that in years gone by "nowhere were 

 they originally more abundant than upon the high, dry plains of 

 the Arkansas valley, Western Texas and thence out to California." 

 It is curious to notice that it was not until 1865 that the fact 

 of the shedding of the horns, which had long before been asserted 

 as taking place by Indians and plainsmen, was admitted by the 



