ANTELOPE. 



Antilocapra Americana, — Ord. 



THE Antelope inhabits the plains of the western portion of 

 North America. It does not now exist east of the looth 

 meridian but occurs in suitable localities to the westward as far as 

 California. Its northern range is bounded by the fifty-third paral- 

 lel and it is found even south of the Rio Grande. It is essentially 

 an animal of the plains, and is never found among timber, though 

 abundant on many of "the elevated plateaus which exist among the 

 Rocky Mountains, in the great Interior Basin and toward the 

 Pacific coast. 



The horns of the Antelope are black and rise from immediately 

 above the orbit upward and outward without any inclination forward 

 or backward. About half way up a flat triangular process rises, 

 pointing forward and outward, from which the animal has received 

 the appellation " Prong Horn." The horns within two or three 

 inches of their extremities curve sharply, either toward each other 

 almost meeting over the head, or backwards like the horn of the 

 Chamois-. One specimen which has come under the notice of the 

 writer, had the point of one horn directed inward and the other 

 backward. There is no regularity in the way in which they point, 

 but the tips are never directed either forward or outward. The 

 general color of the upper parts of the body is a clear yellowish 

 red which deepens on the dorsal line to a brownish black. The 

 face and a spot below the ear are of the latter color. The under 

 parts, with the posterior and inner surfaces of the legs, the cheeks, 

 and lower jaw, two or three patches on the fore neck, the rump 

 and tail are white. There are no false hoofs or dew-claws as 

 in the genera Ceruus and Bos. The length of the animal is 

 about four and one half feet, and the height at the shoulders 

 three feet 



