172 
ANTii.opiDiE. JIAMMALTA. Caimelopardid;e. 
peculiar lionis, wliicli arise from the forehead imme- about half way up, and cuia’ing suddenly backwards 
diately above the eyes, givuig off a sort of brow antler and inwards at the tip (tig. 01). Below the prong the 
Fig. 61. 
The Prong-lioru or Cabrit (Antilojie furcifer). 
liorns are rough, like those of the deer; but above they 
are black and smooth. The fur has a fawn colour 
generally ; being whitish on the throat, chest, belly, 
and rum}). Tlie Prong-horn is gregarious in its habits, 
frecpienting open jilains and hilly grounds. The flesh 
is coarse and unsavoury. The horns of the female are 
rudimentary. 
According to Sir John Richardson, “the most nor- 
therly range of the Prong-horn antelope is latitude 
53°, on the banks of the north branch of the Saskat- 
chewan. Some of them remain the whole year on the 
south branch of that river ; but they are merely summer 
visitors to the north branch. They come every year 
to the neighbourhood of Carlton Ilouse when the snow 
has mostly gone. Soon after their arrival the females 
drop their young, and they retire southwards again in 
the autumn as soon as the snow begins to fall. Almost 
every year a small herd linger on a piece of rising 
ground not far from Carlton House, until the snow has 
become too deep on the })lains to permit them to travel 
over them. Few or none of that herd, however, sur- 
vive until the spring, as they are persecuted by the 
wolves during the rvliole winter. They are found in 
the summer season in the fifty-third parallel of latitude, 
from longitude 106° to the foot of the Rocky IMoun- 
tains. According to Lewis and Clark, they also abound 
on the plains of the Columbia, to the west of tlie 
mountains, where they form the chief game of the 
Shoshonees.” Our authority also adds, that “ the Prong- 
horn a})pears on the banks of the Saskatchewan, 
sometimes a solitary animal, sometimes assembled in 
herds of ten or twelve. Its sight and sense of smell 
are acute, and its speed is greater than that of any 
other inhabitant of the plains, although I have been 
informed by Mr. Prudens, that when there is a little 
snow on the ground, it ma}^ with some little manage- 
ment be run down by a high-bred horse. The Indian 
hunters have no difficult}^ in bringing an antelope 
within gun-shot by various stratagems, such as lying 
dowm on their backs and kicking their heels in the air, 
holding up a white rag or clothing themselves in a 
white shirt, and showing themselves only at intervals. 
By these and similar manoeuvres the curiosity of a 
herd of antelopes is so much roused, that they wheel 
round the object of their attention, and at length 
approach near enough to enable the hunter to make 
sure of his mark. From this dis})Osition of the Prong- 
horned antelopes, they are more easily killed than any 
of the deer of the district which they inhabit.” 
Had space allowed, w’e should have supplied short 
notices of several other antelopes, including the Kob, 
Sing-sing, Nagor, Haar, &c. 
Family IV.— CAMELOPARDIDH5. 
Although represented only by a single genus, the 
characters of this family are sufficiently distinctive and 
osculant between the antilopine, cervine, and cameline 
species, to warrant the propriety of their being sepa- 
rately treated. We have already taken occasion to 
mention one unique structure in connection with 
the intestinal canal ; but there are others scarcely 
less characteristic, being also more obvious. Firstly, 
we notice the horns, wdiich are solid, persistent, and 
completely invested with a hairy integument. A ques-. 
tion has been raised as to the existence of a central 
