33 o UNGULATES. 



the period may be extended to the end of the year. In localities where they have 



not been much disturbed, prongbuck are comparatively tame and not very 



difficult to approach within range. The case is, however, very different in districts 



where they are frequently hunted. Thus Mr. Du Bray writes, that " the ostrich, 



with his vaunted power of vision, is comparatively near-sighted when compared 



with the antelope. 1 The giraffe may excel him, not from having superior eyes, but 



from their greater elevation, and therefore greater scope. The deer is simply 



nowhere in this respect. Even when in the habit of roaming on the prairie, he 



has not the knack of detecting an intruder as an antelope has. I never had any 



trouble in getting within 200 yards of an ostrich, in any decent place ; yet, with 



years of experience on these, and a great deal of other prairie-shooting, I at first 



found it difficult to get within 600 yards of an antelope, and then it was invariably 



a wide-awake one, fully able to take care of himself." 



For coursing the prongbuck, only the very best bred and toughest greyhounds 



are of any use, while it is equally essential that the horse on which the hunter is 



mounted should be of the swiftest. With such dogs it appears, however, that the 



prongbuck is by no means difficult to pull down, and it may accordingly be 



inferred that the speed of the animal is considerably inferior to that of the Indian 



black-buck, which, as we have seen, cannot be captured by greyhounds on 



good ground. 



Fossilised remains of the prongbuck occur in some of the 

 Extinct Forms. . . . ■ , j-- . . 



superficial rleistocene deposits of JNorth America, but paleontology 



has not hitherto revealed to us the existence of any nearly-allied extinct forms. 



It is suggested, however, that a small deer-like animal (Cosoryx), with short 



antlers, may have given rise to the prongbuck by the loss of the fork in the 



antlers, and the development of a superficial horny sheath. 



The Giraffe. 

 Family GlRAFFID^E. 



As we have already had occasion to mention, the giraffe {Giraffa camel o- 

 pardalis), like the prongbuck, is the sole existing representative of the family to 

 which it belongs. Whereas, however, the latter animal stands apparently alone 

 among Ruminants, species of giraffes were widely distributed in former epochs, 

 while there were also several more or less closely-allied types now extinct. 



Owing to the great length of its neck and limbs, coupled with its large bodily 

 size, the giraffe is by far the tallest of all Mammals. In addition to its elongated 

 neck and limbs, it is characterised by the depth and shortness of the body, the 

 great elevation of the withers as compared with the hind-quarters, and the long 

 and delicately-formed head, with its large, full, and clear eyes, and the pair of 

 horn-like appendages covered with skin which surmount the occiput. 



As it is largely owing to the peculiar nature of these horn-like appendages 

 that the giraffe is referred to a distinct family, they require somewhat fuller notice. 

 These horns, as tiny may be conveniently called, are only a few inches in length, and 



1 In America the prongbuck is often termed the antelope, pure and simple. 



