Big Game Aiiiiiials of flic Ycllo-cvstone 463 



fully in their restricted range near the hot springs in the valley of 

 Pelican Creek, at an elevation of 8000 feet. Mr. M. P. Skinner 

 states that '" here they manage to gain a scanty living from the grass 

 freed from snow by the interior heat. Aside from deep snow this 

 valley is a good place for them, affording as it does good protection 

 from the bleak, wintry winds that sweep across the Park plateau. 

 In summer they have ample grazing in secluded nooks." (See The 

 Hoofed Animals of the Yellozvstoiie; in Anier. Musemn Journal, 

 Vol. 16, 1916, pp. 86-95.) These bison are a pure indigenous 

 stock living aloof in the wildest areas of the Park, entirely self- 

 supporting, and still free from the epidemics that constantly threaten 

 the imported mixed herd. They now (1922) number about 100 and 

 are, evidently doing well, having increased about forty per cent since 

 1917, when they are said to have numbered 67 animals. 



As the buffalo range in scattered bands on the high mountain 

 slopes in summer, very few Park visitors see the main herd. But 

 a " show herd " of about twenty splendid animals is kept at Mam- 

 moth in an extensive pasture during the tourist season (fig. 99), 

 and thousands of people have full opportunity to observe and pho- 

 tograph them to best advantage. These bison are returned in the 

 fall to the Lamar Valley, where the entire tame herd is rounded 

 up in the vicinity of the "buffalo ranch " for the winter (figs. 96-98). 

 Here the calves are vaccinated against disease, and all are fed during 

 severe weather on hay cut and stacked at the ranch. 



PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE 



Antilocapra americana- (Ord) 



In the natural range of our antelope northern Yellowstone Park 

 represents the extreme upper limit of summer distribution. It was 

 never intended by nature as a year-round home for these animals. 

 No prong-horns wintered in the Yellowstone in the old days when 

 they could exercise their migratory instincts and travel down from 

 the foothills each autumn to snowless plains for their winter resi- 

 dence. Holding the antelope in the Park in winter seems a rather 

 cruel procedure, but heretofore it has appeared tO' be the only means 

 of saving them. If it were possible to herd them like- cattle, or 

 allow them to drift lower down to some favorable warm valley for 

 the inclement season, they could lead a far happier life and their 

 increase might be assured. This experiment of letting them down 

 to a ranch below the Park was tried in the winter of 1922-1923, 

 with apparent success. But on the other hand the prong-horn 



