THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 73 



nailing apparatus to other members of the herd, and all 

 observers have testified as to the value of this natural 

 heliograph. 



Habits. — In the days of antelope abundance they formed 

 herds varying in numbers from a few individuals to several 

 hundred during the fall, and these herds consisted of adults 

 of both sexes and young. In September or October the 

 bucks vigorously contest for the possession of the does, and 

 soon the most vigorous bucks have rounded up their small 

 bands of chosen does. With the advent of winter the herds 

 migrate, sometimes for a hundred miles or more, to seek the 

 more sheltered regions of their range in the low hills and 

 foot-hills, and here among the coulees they pass the winter. 

 To-day these herds do not often number more than about 

 fifty animals. 



With the return of spring the herds split up. The does 

 seek such solitude as they may be able to find, and in 

 May or June they give birth, usually to two fawns, which 

 remain with their mother all summer. In the fall the 

 males drift in again, and the seasonal life history is re- 

 peated. 



It is a singular fact that it is practically impossible to 

 keep the antelope in captivity. Hornaday, who has had 

 great experience in this respect, states: "Owing to the ex- 

 treme difficulty in maintaining this species in captivity, its 

 total extinction at an early date seems absolutely certain, 

 unless it is fully and permanently protected in a wild state, 

 on its native range, for a long period." 



Distribution and Abundance in Canada. — In Canada it 

 formerly ranged, probably in an abundance ahnost equal 

 to that of the buffalo, from southern Manitoba westward 

 to the Rocky Mountains and northward as far as Edmon- 

 ton. Seton* gives what would appear to be the last record 

 of the occurrence of the antelope in Manitoba, where it is 



* "Life Histories of Northern Animals," vol. I, pp. 215-216. 



