NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 327 



6,740 (doubled); Wyoming, 24,071 (more than tripled); Colo- 

 rado, 1,770 (slight increase); New Mexico, 26,564 (great in- 

 crease); Arizona, 9,410 (great increase); Utah, 35,350 (great 

 increase); Idaho, 12,328 (great increase); Nevada, 12,700 

 (about tripled) ; Oregon, 28,550 (great increase) ; Texas, 9,075 

 (great increase); California, 14,212 (great increase). The 

 estimate published by Nelson in 1925 gave a total of 26,604 

 pronghorns in the United States; the 1939 estimate by the 

 U. S. Biological Survey was 186,114, or nearly a sevenfold 

 increase for the same States. It is clear that the animal is no 

 longer in danger; in fact, in some areas it is common enough to 

 cause resentment among the ranchers for fear that the herds 

 will make the grazing less available for their cattle. In several 

 of the States antelope refuges have been established, which, 

 especially in Nevada and Oregon, are well populated by the 

 animals. 



Obviously, with the continued increase of these herds and 

 their tameness as a result of protection, there will come points 

 where the numbers are too great, and their competition for 

 food with domestic stock must result in measures being taken 

 to reduce the numbers to a reasonable proportion. It remains 

 to be seen whether this is best done by having brief open 

 seasons such as have been declared in Wyoming and Nevada 

 or in some other way. The natural enemies of the pronghorn 

 are chiefly coyotes, which kill the fawns, and bobcats, which in 

 winter may kill a few. Wolves formerly were doubtless a 

 principal enemy. With present measures against these ani- 

 mals, the menace seems slight. These antelope are said not to 

 do well under fence, for it has been found that "within such 

 areas" they seem "to lose their freedom of movement and be- 

 come extraordinarily helpless. This is particularly the case 

 during heavy snowstorms, when they remain within more or 

 less definite areas, in which predatory animals capture them 

 with surprising ease." 



In Canada the pronghorn formerly ranged eastward to 

 southwestern Manitoba but is now restricted to southwestern 

 Saskatchewan and southern Alberta. Nelson's (1925) estimate 

 for 1924 gave a total of 1,327 antelope for Canada, but Ander- 

 son (1939b) shows a figure nearly double this, about 2,400 in 

 1932, as a result of protection, and adds that in 1938 the Fish 

 and Game Commissioner of Alberta estimated the antelope 



