322 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Anthony states that it formerly reached the mountains of 

 Montana and Idaho, but certainly it has not been known in 

 these States for a long time. In the State of Washington, 

 Taylor and Shaw (1929) wrote that it was formerly "of 

 occasional occurrence along the Canadian boundary in the 

 northeastern part of the State, south to Usk, and west to 

 Okanogan County" but that it was exterminated a decade 

 ago (about 1920). Nevertheless the latest wildlife census by 

 the IT. S. Biological Survey credits the national forests of the 

 State with an estimated four individuals in 1938. In a letter 

 to Dr. Francis Harper in April, 1937, I. M. Cowan wrote that 

 in British Columbia there are still a number of montanus but 

 none now south of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way. In general, caribou are "definitely on the wane through 

 overhunting," he says, "mainly by Indians." 



Cowan's statement probably applies in part to the Mount 

 Robson form, fortidens, as well, for he says they are "almost 

 gone" in the Chilcotin region. Hollister in 1912 said they were 

 not common along the line of the railroad east of the boundary 

 line of Jasper Park but were formerly common down to the 

 eastern foothills. Dr. R. M. Anderson wrote in 1938 that 

 R. montanus "is still fairly common in the Rocky Mountains 

 of western Alberta, but the animals are extremely scarce on 

 most of their former range in central and southern British 

 Columbia." In 1929 he had "fairly conclusive evidence of the 

 presence of a small band ranging along Summit Creek on both 

 sides of the British Columbia-Idaho border, and if these still 

 exist they are probably the most southern representatives. 

 At that time a few were still supposed to be in the mountains 

 southwest of Nelson, British Columbia." Carl Rungius (in 

 Ely et al., 1939) has lately published an account of hunting R. 

 fortidens in the Mount Robson region, but he gives no dates. 

 At the time, caribou were fairly numerous there. 



Family ANTILOCAPRIDAE : Pronghorns 

 THE PRONGHORN ANTELOPE 



The pronghorns are the last surviving members of a family, 

 the Antilocapridae, that has developed exclusively in North 

 America. Though related to the true antelopes of the Old 



