118 
ORDERS OF MAMMALS— HOOFED ANIMALS 
nia. In all these states save three its destruc- 
tion has been absolutely prohibited for periods 
ranging from five to ten years, and it is hoped 
and believed that all will very shortly provide 
for its absolute protection. But has protec- 
tion come to this species early enough to save 
it? It is very doubtful. Says Mr. A. G. Walli- 
han, in Outdoor Life, “Look at the Antelope! 
But I don’t know whether you can find any to 
look at; for I don’t think there are 50 in Routt 
County [Colorado], where ten years ago there 
were probably 50,000. They have almost com- 
pletely disappeared here. No doubt a small 
herd of a thousand or so went north into Wyo- 
ming, but they will fare no better there.” 
The destruction of this beautiful and interest- 
ing creature is now absolutely inexcusable, and 
for the good name of Americans generally it is 
to be hoped that wherever a wild Prong-Horned 
Antelope is now to be found, public sentiment 
will protect it more powerfully and more per- 
manently than can any statute law. 
THE DEER FAMILY. 
Cervidae. 
General Observations. — The Deer Family 
is well represented on all continents, and on all 
large islands, save Africa, Australia and New 
Zealand. There are about forty-five well-de- 
fined species, and many subspecies. With but 
one or two exceptions, the species found in the 
tropics and subtropics are scantily antlered, dull 
in color, and covered with coarse, thin hair. 
There is but one tropical deer which is really 
beautiful, and that is the axis, or spotted deer, 
of India and Ceylon. 
The following facts regarding the deer of the 
world are worth remembering: 
The American Moose is the largest member of 
the Deer Family, living or extinct. 
The American Elk, or Wapiti, is the largest 
and finest of all the round-horned deer. 
The Axis Deer is the most beautiful in color 
of all deer. 
The Moose has the heaviest and most massive 
antlers, with the widest spread. 
Male deer of most species have solid antlers, 
of bone, branching into several tines. 
Deer shed their antlers, and renew them com- 
pletely, every year. 
The young of nearly all round-horned deer are 
spotted at birth. 
All adult male deer are dangerous in the mating 
season, when their antlers are new and perfect. 
The female Caribou is the only female deer 
with antlers. 
The best deer to keep in captivity in a park is 
the Fallow Deer, of Europe; and outside of its 
own home, the worst is the Columbian Black-Tail. 
Except as already stated, nearly every coun- 
try in the world is provided with representa- 
tives of the Deer Family, according to conditions. 
Nature. has fitted the caribou to live in the awful 
lands of desolation in the far north, and the 
moose in the forests fringing the Arctic bar- 
rens. The elk is fashioned for the plains, the 
foothills and open-timbered mountains of west- 
ern America and central Asia. 1 The white- 
tailed deer skulks in safety through the thickest 
forests of temperate North America, and in 
India and the far East the axis deer, the sam- 
bar, and the tiny muntjac, with only one or two 
tines on each antler, have been formed to slip 
through the tangled jungles with ease and safety. 
North America has the good fortune to be rich 
in Cervidae. It has six prominent types, and 
at this date (1903), a full count reveals twenty- 
four recognized species and subspecies, which 
form a group combining the grand, the beautiful 
and the picturesque, and of very decided value 
to man. In the exploration and settlement of 
the United States, and the exploration of Alaska 
and the far North, the wild herds have played an 
important part. 
The unvarying distinctive mark by which any 
American representative of the Deer Family can 
be recognized is the presence on the male of solid 
horns of bone, called antlers, which are shed once 
a year, close down to the skull, and are fully re- 
newed by rapidly growing out in a soft state called 
“the velvet.” When fully grown, the antlers 
branch several times; but the first pair, which 
are grown during the second year, are only two 
straight and slender spikes, called “dag antlers.” 
The grouping of animals with antlers brings 
together in the Deer Family not only the true 
deer, but also the moose and caribou. 
Shedding and Renewal of Antlers. — At 
this point it is necessary to emphasize certain 
facts regarding the antlers of deer, elk, moose 
and caribou. 
