286 
ZOOLOGY, 
twigs of trees and shrubs, and it is the only one of the 
family which will browse on coniferous trees. 
The prong-horn antelope {Antilocapra Americana, Fig. 
316; see also Frontispiece) so characteristic of the western 
plains, like the true deer, drops its horns in the autumn, 
Fig. 316.— Prong-horn Antelope, young. 
though they are hollow when shed, and with a persistent 
core, as in the ox and goat. The antelope crops grass, 
not, like the deer, eating leaves of trees and shrubs. It is 
the fleetest animal on the plains, though short-winded and 
not capable of running a great distance. 
In its horns, hollow when cast ofE, and in the presence 
of a gall-bladder, which is absent in the deer family, the 
prong-horn antelope connects the deer family with the 
BovidcB, which are represented by the sheep, goat, antelope, 
gazelle, and ox. 
