314 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



white; cheeks and under side of head, wliite. Ears white, with dark line 

 around the edges — most pronounced on front edges; a brown-black patcli under 

 each ear. Horns black, with j-ellowish-white tips. Top and sides of neck, the 

 back and upper half of sides, russet-yellow; below this, white, except usually 

 three bauds of russet-yellow beneath the neck; white extending up from the 

 inguinal region, involving the posteriors, uniting with a white patch on the 

 rump. Tail white, with a few tawny hairs on top. There is an interdigital 

 gland on each foot, a cutaneous gland under each ear, another over each promi- 

 nence <if I he ixrldum, another behind each hock, and one on the back at the 

 anterior ( (Im' nf the white patch; in all, eleven. 



As to the habitat of the Antelope, Judge Caton says: 



We have no account or evidence that the Prong Buck was ever an inhab- 

 itant east of the Mississippi River, and it only reached that river in the higher 

 latitudes. It is now (1881) found only west of the Missouri River. Westward, 

 it originally inhabited all the region to the Pacific Ocean, within the present 

 limits of the United States, except the wooded districts and high mountain 

 ranges. It was very abundant in California twenty-five years ago. 3Iy infor- 

 mation is full that they were equally numerous throughout all the valleys and 

 open country of that State. They were by no means uncommon in the oixjn 

 portions of Oregon. They are very scarce, if any exist, in that State now, and 

 California is at this time almost deserted by them. Their native range 

 extends from the tropics to the fifty-fourth degree of nortli latitude. Within 

 the described limits, they do not invade the timbered country or the high, 

 naked mountains. Their favorite haunts are the naked plains or barren, rolling 

 country. If they endure scattering trees in a park^-like region, or scanty 

 shrubs, forests possess such terrors for them that these animals avoid them at 

 any sacrifice. 



There are many points in the natural history of this 

 strange animal that I should like to dwell upon here, but 

 space forbids. Many of its traits, habits, and peculiarities 

 are, however, brought out in the following pages, in narrat- 

 ing my exjjerience, and that of others, in hunting it; but 

 for a further and closer study of the animal than it is pos- 

 sible to give in the space allotted me here, I must refer the 

 reader to the work quoted above. 



September, October, and November are the best and, in 

 fact, the only proper months in which to hunt the Antelope 

 in the Northwest; but in the far Southwest, the legitimate 

 season maybe extended to include December. Whether or 

 not the season be regulated by law in each State or Terri- 

 tory, the true sportsman will not hunt game of any kind 

 for sport during more than three or four months out of the 



