252 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



worn by the animal for life, unless accident breaks 

 them off. They are made from a fibrous material akin 

 to hair, and cannot be separated from the liead without 

 making a bleeding wound ; as a straight branch grows 

 from a tree, if it is broken a scar is left and the sap 

 runs out. 



" The antlers of Deer are not made of this tibre, but 

 of solid bone. They sprout from the head of the male 

 Deer in the spring, as a leaf bud does from a twig. 

 At first they are soft and tender as the young leaf is. 

 Then they grow and expand in different shapes, each 

 according to its kind, some being simple and others 

 many-pointed, like ferns. All the summer they grow 

 harder and harder, until in autumn and early winter 

 they are ripe and fall off as the leaves do, leaving 

 a little scar through which the next year's antlers 

 sprout. 



" There is one animal that you will liear about soon, 

 whose horns are stepping-stones between the hollow 

 horns and the solid antlers. This is the Antelope, who 

 belongs to the Deer branch of the meat family, and 

 like other Deer sheds its pronged horns, which are still 

 partly hollow like those of a cow." 



" What do you call them if they are half horn and 

 half antlers ? " asked Rap. 



" The Wise Men call them prongs, and sportsmen 

 give the Antelope the name of Pronghorn." 



Meanwhile Mr. Blake was unfastening a little orna- 

 ment that hung to his A\'atch-chain, which he handed to 

 Dodo, saying, — 



" Here is something I found the other day that 1 

 thought was lost. Guess what that is, little daughter.'' 



