THE SHEEP AND ITS VARIETIES. 



609 



States by the common Virgiuiaii deer {Oariacus Virginianvs 

 Gray, Fig. 526), tlic elk or wapiti {C'ervus Canadejisis Erxle- 

 ben. Fig. 527), and the caribou {Rangifer caribou Audubon 

 and Bachman), whicli is probably a variety of the European 

 reindeer {R. tarandus Sundevall). In these beautiful, grace- 

 ful forms the solid antlers are cast off annually ; with the 

 exception of the reindeer the females or does have no antlers. 

 The prong-horn antelope {Antilocajjra Americana Ord, 



Fig. 528.— Head of yuuiig Prong-horn Antelope. — After Hays. 



Fig. 538) SO characteristic of the western jjlains, also drops 

 its horns in the autumn, though they are hollow (Fig. 529) 

 and with a persistent core as in the ox and goat. It crops 

 grass, not, like the deer, eating leaves of trees and shrubs ; 

 " in fleetness it excels all other quadrupeds of our conti- 

 nent," though it is short winded, and does not run a great 

 distance (Caton). In its hollow horns, and tlie i)resence of a 

 gall bladder, which is absent in the Oervidw, the prong-horn 



