XVI 



THE ANTELOPE 



SPORTSMEN who wish to see a great variety of 

 antelopes must go to Africa. America has only 

 one — the prong-horned antelope, often called prong- 

 buck. 



Our antelope is a trim and graceful animal and sur- 

 prisingly fast. It is the fleetest game-animal in the 

 land. A few years ago it was wonderfully abundant 

 on the great Western plains, but it is nowhere plenti- 

 ful to-day, and the naturalists predict its extermina- 

 tion. 



Lewis and Clark furnished the first information 

 concerning this animal one hundred years ago. The 

 first technical descriptions were written from the speci- 

 men brought by those early explorers of the West. 



Popularly the antelope is often regarded as a deer. 

 He has similar slender, graceful legs, and is somewhat 

 similar in color, but he is effectively marked with 

 white on the neck, under-parts, and buttocks, and with 

 dark brown on the muzzle, forehead, and back of the 

 neck. His height is about three feet at the withers. 

 His slender head supports a pair of black, curved, and 

 pronged horns from six to twelve inches long. The 

 form is more like that of the mule-deer than the Vir- 

 ginia. The snag or prong which suggested the names 



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