394 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



the exhibition of strange objects which arouse their curiosity) 

 to be practised with success. Ten or fifteen years ago, antelope 

 might be seen from the windows of almost every train running 

 west of Chicago, but now their range is vastly curtailed, and 

 though a few small herds may still be found in most of their 

 old haunts, they are not really abundant except in Texas, 

 in the neighbourhood of the National Park, and in Assine- 

 boia, where in 1893 I saw two considerable bands in April 

 from the carriage windows of the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 train. 



In Texas, a friend who was there in November 1892 

 wrote me : ' There seems to be plenty of antelope round 

 here, as they are frequently brought into town, sometimes by 

 the cartload to be shipped.' In California antelopes have been 

 almost exterminated, and the same may be said of Oregon, 

 whilst in Colorado the districts in which they occur are not 

 numerous, nor even in these does the beast exist in any numbers, 

 except where it has been preserved. It seems likely that the 

 pronghorn will be the next of the American mammals to dis- 

 appear before the arms of the white man. Like the buffalo, 

 the antelope is a dweller on the plains, seldom seeking refuge 

 either in the timber or in the high mountains, although he is 

 found at a very considerable altitude on the high tablelands 

 near Gunnison, Colorado, for example (6,000 to 7,000 ft. at 

 least above sea level). The season for antelope shooting should 

 be from August to the middle or end of October, after which 

 time the oldest of the bucks will have shed the shell-like 

 covering of their horns. The rutting season lasts for about six 

 weeks, beginning in September and ending in October. The 

 pronghorn, though an inhabitant of the great plains, is not a 

 wanderer as most denizens of such countries are, but seems to 

 attach himself to a certain district, and to remain there or near 

 there until his tribe has been exterminated. For instance, there 

 is a small band which may be seen almost any day in winter 

 within a few miles of one of the big cities of Colorado. The 

 band grows smaller year by year, but it never alters its winter 



