52 BULLETIN 1346, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



a large number of them. The herd is still more or less in danger, however, 

 from attacks of their predatory enemies. It was reduced to 8 animals in 

 December, 1915 ; increased to 23 in 1917, and to 34 in 1921 ; but was again 

 reduced during 1922 and 1923 to 17, and during 1924 to 6 animals, all does. 

 In Julj r , 1924, a young buck, captured in 1923, in northwestern Nevada, was 

 added to the herd, raising the number to 7. 



TEXAS 



Formerly antelope abounded on the plains of western Texas, but with the 

 occupation of the country they have decreased tintil it has been possible to ob- 

 tain definite information of only 42 existing bands, numbering about 2,400 

 animals, for the entire State. My principal sources of information concern- 

 ing the antelope in Texas have been W. W. Boyd, State game, fish, and 

 oyster commissioner, and C. R. Landon, in charge of the predatory-animal 

 work of the Biological Survey in that State. 



On May 1, 1922, Mr. Boyd wrote that the antelope in Texas were ranging 

 so far as possible in the rougher or sandy lands, owing to their having been 

 hunted in high-powered automobiles. He added that one ranchman in 1922 

 reported 75 antelope fawns in the herd on his place the preceding year, and 

 that he expected another good fawn crop that spring. Mr. Boyd is taking 

 an active interest in the remaining antelope in the State and believes that 

 the number can be materially increased. In December, 1924, through his 

 deputies and other sources of information he completed the most thorough 

 census of the surviving antelope in the State that has ever been obtained. 

 The number proves to be much greater than was anticipated. 



One of Mr. Boyd's deputies, Pete Crawford, writing on January 12, 1925, 

 stated that a small herd of 4 or 5 antelope which ranged a few miles north of 

 Marathon was completely wiped out. Mr. Crawford added that all the ante- 

 lope herds that he has mentioned particularly in his report are protected by 

 the ranchmen and popular sentiment. He stated that each of the herds that 

 he personally knows is decidedly on the increase, and he believed that at the 

 end of 10 years, if the present program of conservation is carried on, antelope 

 herds in the region west of the Pecos will become a common sight. 



In the Houston Chronicle for November 12," 1923, it is stated from Hebron- 

 ville that — 



" Jim Hogg County perhaps can claim the only remaining antelope in south- 

 west Texas. One herd of 16 to 20 ranges near town on the Hellen and Teager 

 ranches, while the other herd, somewhat larger, is on the W. W. Jones, Wilbur 

 Allen, and Jonas Weil ranches in the southern part of the county. 



" While protected by law and the ranchmen, as far as the latter are able to 

 do so, yet occasionally one is killed by a hunter, as they are as gentle as range 

 cattle and easily shot. 



" The advent of the farmer in this section also is interfering with these 

 beautiful animals and the time is not far distant when, like the buffalo which 

 once roamed over these prairies, they, too, will have passed." 



Apparently the antelope are on the increase in this district, since on Janu- 

 ary 29, 1925, Mr. Boyd listed herds in that area totaling 285 animals, as indi- 

 cated in area No. 40 on the map (fig. 16). 



H. G. Clark, of Lobo, Tex., writes that coyotes and eagles destroy some of 

 the young fawns, and other causes contribute materially to reduce the in- 

 crease. 



Mr. Landon on April 15, 1922, wrote that 5 or 6 years before he saw be- 

 tween 30 and 40 antelope in one herd ranging near Big Lake, but that last 

 fall the same herd contained only 7 animals. He added : 



