324 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



in 1898, and only 1200 in igog, 5 since which time they have been still 

 further reduced. In 1906 it was stated in the report of the state game 

 warden of Wyoming that the Green River herd had diminished from 

 6000 to less than 2000 in three years. 6 In a letter of September, 1928, 

 the Wyoming State Game Commissioner estimated the number of 

 antelope in the game preserves of that state at 17,600. About 1884 

 ''thousands of them were killed annually around the San Francisco 

 and Bill Williams Mountains," but by 1888 they "had become com- 

 paratively uncommon except in the restricted areas still unoccupied by 

 the whites." 7 This is a fair statement of what was occurring about that 

 time in many other localities in the West. In Yellowstone Park they 

 were killed "by the thousands" each year from 1872 to 1883. Better 

 protection was provided in 1886, but even with that they decreased 

 from thousands in 1877 to only 253 in 1923. 



It was estimated in 1925 that there were 7568 pronghorns in the 

 United States national forests, and in 1927 the estimate was 6942. 

 They were entirely or practically removed from the game lists of all 

 the states by 1909, in the effort to save the remnants of the once great 

 herds. 10 Special state and other refuges for pronghorns have been es- 

 tablished in several states. 11 



The pronghorns are grazers, their chief natural food being largely 

 sagebrush, greasewood and cactus, 12 with the hard prairie grasses of 

 the western plains and lower mountains, which cure well on the stem. 

 They do not thrive so well on rich, green grasses of moist regions. 

 Away from the open ranges they are hard to keep in zoological parks. 

 The only hope for their preservation is in the establishment of refuges 

 where they may be protected, with access to their natural food, and 

 in the fact that no hunting is allowed in national parks, where some 

 still remain. 



5 Gary, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 33, 1911. 



"Lantz, U. S. Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 36, p. n, 1910. 



7 Mearns, Mammals of the Mexican boundary, U. S. Natl. Museum Bull. No. 56, 

 p. 226, 1907. 



8 Skinner, The pronghorn, Journ. Mammalogy, in, 82-105, 1922; The American 

 antelope in Yellowstone National Park, 1924, revised and extended from preceding 

 paper. 



9 Adams, Roosevelt Wild Life Bull., in, 558, 1926. New York World Almanac for 

 1928, p. 364. 



10 Palmer, Chronology and index of the more important events in American game 

 protection, 1776-1911, U. S. Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 41, 1912. 



"Nelson, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. No. 1346, 1925. Pearson, Bird-Lore, xxx, 157- 

 158, 1928. Bull. Amer. Game Protective Assn., Apr.-May, 1928, p. 44. 

 12 Seton, Lives of Game animals, in, Part 2, p. 446, 1929. 



