750 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THE HEAD OF AN OLD MALE AMERICAN ANTELOPE 



Figure 4. This is the right side view, reduced, reproduced by photography 

 from a brush sketch by the author. In this specimen the horns are not as 

 high as they sometimes grow to be. (Compare with Figures 5 and 6.) 



shot never a one. Being mounted on an excellent hunt- 

 ing horse, I came to the top of a low, rolling hill. Upon 

 looking down into the shallow valley beyond, there lay 

 nine antelope on the ground all within two hundred 

 yards. At the sight of me they all jumped up together, 

 and the reader may imagine my surprise when I saw 

 that the largest buck, a full-grown and splendid specimen, 

 had jet black head and shoulders, while the coloration of 

 the hair of the rest of his body was normal My brain 

 reeled with excitement, for I would risk almost anything 

 to obtain such a prize. Now, they were rested, while I 

 and the horse were nearly tired out with the day's ride ; 

 so I hardly knew what to do, especially as they began 

 to walk off at a rapid pace. Having often succeeded in 

 a charge under such circumstances, I resolved to try it, 

 and the spurt I made surprised the antelope, diminishing 

 the distance between us in a trice by a hundred yards. 

 Here I rapidly dismounted and let my horse go. Mean- 

 while my game had taken start, and actually flew up the 

 side of a low, long, and narrow hill, some hundred and 

 fifty yards beyond, where, instead of passing over its 

 crest, they tore along at a steam-engine rate down the 

 middle path of its summit. The black-headed buck was 

 in the lead, the other eight following in single file. I 

 had a heavy rifle, calibre .45, and with it I drew a fine 

 sight on the object of my desire, who was going at such 

 a pace that one could not keep his legs individualized. 



Then, holding fully three yards ahead of him, I pulled. 

 Imagine my disappointment when I saw a noble doe 

 immediately in his rear plunge to one side and roll down, 

 stone dead! Dismounted as I was and completely leg- 

 weary, my last chance was gone; and from that dav to 

 this I have never seen or heard of such a specimen ; 

 indeed, a case of apparent melanism in an antelope 

 where the condition was confined to the head and shoul- 

 ders must certainly be one of the rarest occurrences in 

 nature. 



Once I was out with Lieutenant Merriam, of the 

 Fourth Infantry; he was on foot and armed with a 

 carbine. Upon ascending the slope of a low hill, over 

 which, however, he could not see, some one beyond had 

 started a bunch of fifty or sixty antelope. They rushed 

 along the top of the hill immediately in his direction, 

 reaching him just as they came to its summit. The 

 surprise was profound and mutual. The antelope, 

 closely crowded together, whirled to one side, and he 

 was not ten feet from them when he fired at the one 

 directly in front of him. The ball not only killed it 



DIRECT FRONT VIEW OF THE SKULL OF AN OLD MALE 

 AMERICAN ANTELOPE 



Figure 5. From a stuffed specimen prepared 1.'- the Arapahoe Indians 

 collected by the Bureau of Ethnology and kindly loaned the writer by 

 the United States National Museum. Note the asymmetry of horns and 

 projecting orbital cavities. 



