252 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



the ungainly, water-loving Metamynodon, the 

 strange, horse-like rhinoceros, the diminutive four- 

 toed horse, the giant pigs, and the hobgoblin deer 

 with tusks and six horns are a few samples of the 

 nightmare creatures whose comical forms popu- 

 lated the hills and plains of those remote days; 

 they were caricatures of our living species. 

 Like any human child, 



MOTHER NATURE'S FIRST ATTEMPTS AT MODELING 



were crude affairs, compared with the fine work 

 of her present art. It took ages of experiment to 

 produce the dainty, swift, and graceful prong- 

 horned antelope and it is a masterpiece of art. 

 There are still several hundred of these gentle lit- 

 tle citizens in the Park; but a fence is absolutely 

 necessary for their preservation, and should be built 

 to prevent them from straying over the boundary, 

 as they do, to be immediately killed by game hogs. 



THE BIGHORN, 



or Rocky Mountain sheep, can be seen by climbing 

 ']Mt. Evarts, or some other high peak of the Park. 

 They have been so persecuted that it will be long 

 before they will frequent lower ground. There 

 were about 200 in the Park at the time this was 

 written. With care this number can be increased. 

 Inasmuch as these creatures will soon be extermi- 

 nated elsewhere, it is important that every care 



