464 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



is too nervous an animal for such treatment, and there is the added 

 danger of the whole herd becoming suddenly scattered and lost for- 

 ever. If the Park boundary could be extended even a few miles 

 north along the Yellowstone Valley, this would probably save the 

 antelope. It would also assist in the protection of the deer and the 

 precious herds of elk, now in a precarious situation. 



It appears to be principally because of the severity of the winters 

 that the Yellowstone antelope are gradually diminishing in number. 

 In 1912, it was estimated that there were about 300 in the Park, 

 and today there are less than 200 all told. How long will they last 

 in case their Park range is not extended down the Valley? None 

 of the other remaining bands in the United States has such severe 

 climatic conditions to meet as those wintering below Mammoth Hot 

 Springs, but for one cause or another they are all apparently tending 

 rapidly toward extermination. On the other hand, the Yellowstone 

 herd receives better protection from poaching than those outside the 

 National Parks. The American antelope is very sensitive and 

 nervous in disposition and fails to breed regularly when reduced in 

 numbers or disturbed. If placed in confinement, as in a zoological 

 garden, it soon dies. In order to preserve our antelope they must 

 be kept in large herds and carefully guarded from all disturbing 

 influences. They are easily driven from their range, the approach 

 of a single person or unusual object being sufficient to stampede and 

 scatter them over a wide area. On various occasions portions of 

 the Park herd have broken away over the northern boundary and 

 been destroyed. Such losses account in part for the diminished 

 numbers of the present herd. No person or institution should now 

 be permitted to shoot or take antelope anywhere for any purpose 

 zvhatsoever. Every animal in the few existing bands is needed to 

 help build up the race to a point where it will breed normally and 

 re-establish its former numbers. A safe margin should always be 

 maintained to allow for possible accidents to so sensitive a species. 



No game animals in America are worthier of preservation than 

 the antelope. Their home is the open plains, where they would be 

 visible to everybody traversing their habitat. No more lovely sight 

 ever gladdened the eye of a traveler than that of a band of these 

 spritely pink and white creatures. Their eyes are unusually large 

 for the size of the animal, and their color pattern is strange and very 

 beautiful (figs. 108, no). Prong-horns have a peculiar bounding 

 gait (fig. 106) and are capable of tremendous speed. When fright- 

 ened they " heliograph " their alarm to their companions by revers- 

 ing the white hair of the rump, which reflects the sunlight in mirror- 



