USELESS TAILS AND QUEER HORNS. 15 



" What do you know about horns, Dyche? " asked 

 Snow. 



" I am coming to that. The body was short, thick, 

 and heavy, and looked bunchy. This thick, bunchy 

 appearance, by the way, is more noticeable on a cold 

 day. The tail is painfully short, and the question 

 naturally arises, 'What is it good for ?' It is too 

 small for either ornament or use, being less than 

 three inches long. No other American animal has 

 such trim feet. The hoofs are long, slender, and 

 sharply pointed, being ebony black in color. One 

 very noticeable and striking peculiarity of the feet is 

 that there are no accessory hoofs on the back, such 

 as are seen in cows, sheep, goats, and deer. 



"Now as to the horns. The most remarkable 

 characteristic of the antelope is that it has true horns 

 and not antlers, and it sheds these horns every year. 

 Naturalists have been doubtful on this subject for 

 years ; but it is a fact, nevertheless, that such is the 

 case. All species of deer shed their antlers. There 

 is a wide difference between horns and antlers. True 

 horns are seen on cows, sheep, and goats, while ant- 

 lers are found in the deer family. An antler is a 

 pure bony structure growing from the frontal bone 

 of the animal. The males of all species of deer grow 

 their antlers every year. The antler begins to grow 

 in the spring about the time that leaves begin to 

 sprout on the trees, first appearing on the animal's 

 head as a sort of knot or knob, covered with velvety 

 skin. This knob grows very fast, soon being several 

 inches long. It then bifurcates, and two knobs are 

 seen on the end of the protuberance. One of these 



