179 



THE PRONG HORNED ANTELOPE. 



{Anti/ocap7-a Americana.) 



The antelope family comprises many of 

 the most beautiful and graceful species 

 among horned animals. AA/hen we be- 

 hold the curiously twisted horns of the 

 sasin, the long, sharp horns of the pas- 

 san, the large, spiral horns of the koodoo 

 and the shorter horns of the eland, not to 

 mention the graceful bodies and limbs 

 of these animals, we are led to wonder at 

 the extravagance of nature in furnishing 

 such a variety of appendages to these 

 creatures. 



By far the larger number of species of 

 this family live in Africa and Asia, where 

 they have reached the highest develop- 

 ment of structure. They are not, like 

 some families of mamma's, confined to 

 any one particular locality, but are 

 found on the plains and high up on the 

 mountains ; in a country sparsely covered 

 with vegetation and in the thick forests ; 

 in marshes and bogs. In fact, they seem 

 to inhabit all varieties of country. While 

 the family is thus diversified in habitat, 

 the dififerent species are by no means so 

 widely distributed, for while some spe- 

 cies, like the sasin, live only on the open 

 plains, others, like the chamois, live high 

 up on the mountains, frequently above 

 the snow-line. 



The subject of our sketch, the Prong- 

 horned antelope (Antilocapra america- 

 na), is not as large nor so strikingly 

 horned as the other animals which have 

 been mentioned. In fact, so dififerent is 

 its structure, having hollow, pronged 

 horns which do not increase by contin- 

 uous growth, as do those of the true an- 

 telopes, but are shed like those of the deer 

 family, and having a somewhat different 

 structure of feet and dififerent texture of 

 hair, that a family has been made for it 

 known as Antilocapridae. 



The Prong-horn ranges throughout 

 the western part of North America from 

 the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, 

 and from the Saskatchawan river south 

 to the Rio Grande. It is not confined to 

 the plains, but has been found in the wild 

 valleys of the Rocky mountains to a 

 height of over eight thousand feet above 

 sea level. 



The daily life of this interesting animal 

 is thus described by Canfield, who made 

 an exhaustive study of them and who 

 also kept them in captivity: "From the 

 first of September to the first of March 

 one always sees them in larger groups 

 composed of bucks, does and yearlings. 

 Shortly afterward the does individually 

 retire from these herds and give birth 

 to their young. After a short interval 

 they again unite with other suckling does 

 and their little calves, possibly with a view 

 to common defense against the wolf and 

 coyotes. The adult bucks roam about 

 singly or two together, leaving the moth- 

 ers with their latest progeny to their fate, 

 the young Prong-horns in the meantime 

 gathering in groups of their own apart 

 from the older animals. Apparently tired 

 of the world and bored by society the old 

 bucks wander about for one or two 

 months, frequenting localities in which 

 they are not ordinarily seen. Two or 

 three months subsequently the adoles- 

 cent bucks again join the old does and 

 their calves, and finally the old bucks also 

 put in an appearance, so that one can ob- 

 serve herds, numbering hundreds, or 

 sometimes even thousands, after the first 

 of September. A herd never leaves its 

 native locality or roams over more than a 

 few miles of range. In dry summer 

 weather they seek water and go to drink 

 regularly once a day or twice in three 



