38 
The Prong- Horned Antelope 
The voice of the Antelope is a querulous, 
grunting bleat, uttered by the mother when 
she is calling to the kid. At other times I 
have not heard it. But a sort of shrill whis- 
tle or snort is used as an alarm, and they 
have also a short bark of 
curiosity. The kid utters a 
little bleat or squeak, but 
the rest of the signalling is 
done by appeals to the eye 
and nose. 
The eye of the Antelope 
is of marvellous beauty and 
magnitude, "larger than 
that of any other quadru- 
ped of its size" (Caton), 
and there is every evidence 
that it is as keen as it is 
beautiful. This is readily 
understood in relation to 
the fact that it is a creature 
of the open; its eyes are 
more often serviceable to it 
than its ears, or even its 
nose, and the majority 
of its signals, unlike those 
of woodland animals, 
are dependent upon 
vision for their success. 
The Prongbuck is the only horned rumi- 
nant in North America that has but two 
hoofs on each foot. Nature's economic 
plan has been to remove all parts that cease 
to be of use, and so save the expense of 
growing and maintaining them. Thus man 
is losing his back or wisdom teeth since civ- 
ilized diet is rendering them superfluous. 
The ancestor of the Antelope had four hoofs 
to the foot, like the Deer or Pig, but the back 
pair on each has 
been dropped. At 
an earlier step the 
common ancestor 
of the Antelope 
and Deer had five 
well-developed 
toes on each ex- 
tremity, but it 
seems that while 
this makes an ad- 
mirable foot for 
Skin of crupper-discs. wadiug in treach- 
AtAA the hair was about four inches erOUS SWampS, it 
long; at and below BB less than • f nr m PrVi C3 mVd 1 
two inches; at CCC, between the lOr meCndniLai 
InTh ''long r e a s o n s , a slow 
foot; the fewer the toes the greater the speed. 
The Deer, still living in swamps, could not 
afford to dispense entirely with the useful 
little hind or mud-hoofs. There they are 
still, for bog use, though much modified 
from the original equal- 
toed type, more nearly 
shown in the Pig. But the 
Antelope Hving in the hard, 
dry uplands had no use for 
bog-trotters, and ex- 
changed them for a higher 
rate of speed, so that it now 
has only two toes on each 
foot. 
The Horse family went 
yet further. They shunned 
the very neighborhood of 
swamps; all their life was 
spent on the firm, dry level 
country; speed and sound 
feet were their holds on ex- 
istence, and these they 
maintained at their great- 
est pitch by adopting a foot 
with a single hoof -clad toe. 
Coronado and his con- 
An Antelope pose. temporaries discovered the 
Antelope, but they were too 
busy adding to the spiritual Kingdom of 
their Masters, in consideration of the mate- 
rial plunder thereof, to give a second thought 
to this wonderful wild thing. It remained 
for the immortal Lewis and Clarke, 250 
years later, to tell the world about the Prong- 
horn of the Plains. 
They comment with wonder on its great 
strength and its great weakness — that is, its 
speed and its curiosity, that has so often 
rendered its speed of no avail. By common 
consent the Antelope is given first place for 
swiftness among the four-foots of America. 
"Their walk is a slow and somewhat 
pompous gait, their trot elegant and grace- 
ful, and their gallop or 'run' light and in- 
conceivably swift. They pass along, up or 
down hills, or along the level plain with the 
same apparent ease, while so rapidly do 
their legs perform their graceful movements 
in propelHng their bodies over the ground, 
that like the spokes of a fast-turning wheel, 
we can hardly see them, but instead, ob- 
serve a gauzy or film-like appearance where 
thev should be visible." (Aud. & Bach. 
"Quads, of N. A.," vol. II, p. -198.) 
