PRONGHORN. The goat-antelope (Antilo copra Americana) of the plains of Western North America, generally known as 'antelope.' and by the Canadian French as `cabree' (cabrit). It ranged from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast and from the Saskatchewan River to the , interior of Mexico, most commonly on open plains o• in broad valleys. It is not nearly as abundant now as formerly, but it is still plenti ful in the less thickly settled parts of the West.
The pronghorn is about feet long and three feet high. It is yellowlsh-brown above and white below; there are brown and white mark ings on the head, and the white buttocks are said to gleam in the sun at a long distance. The shape of the body is deer-like, but more robust; the bead is carried erect, while the bounding gait and alert air are gazelle-like. (See Colored Plate of ANTELOPES.) The animal dif fers front the true antelopes and from all other ruminants in the total absence of 'false hoofs,' and in the remarkable nature of its horns, which are deciduous. The skull is surmounted by two spike-like horn-cores. rising over the great eye orbit and leaning outward. These are covered with a skin and coat of bristly hairs which tinate at the tip and change into a compressed horny sheath, the change proceeding toward the base until the whole is sheathed with horn. These stand about a foot in height. are curved inward, often so as to be truly lyrate, and—unlike any other sheath-horn known—are branched, having one prong (occasionally more' on the anterior edge. Every winter these horns are pushed off by new hairy growths beneath them, com parable to the 'velvet' of deer's antlers, which in turn harden into another pair of true horns. This distinction is deemed sufficient to justify placing the pronghorn in a separate family, the Antilocapride. intermediate between the giraffes and the Bovidle. The horns of the female are rudimentary. The pronghorn is provided with
several glands which secrete strong-smelling sub stances, especially during the rutting season. The most notable of these glands are just below the ear, one on each side. In summer the hair of the pronghorn is smooth and flexible, but as winter approaches it. lengthens: each hair be comes thick, its interior becomes white and spongy, and it loses its flexibility, at last be coming brittle. so that its point is easily rubbed off. This singular fur forms a close and warm covering for the animal, hut renders the skin useless as fur, no• does it make serviceable leath er. The flesh. however. is delicious.
The pronghorn is confined to the open plains and thinly wooded parks and valleys of the West ern mountains. It is suspicious and timid, and liable to panic, when it will dance up and down: but when once away goes at a leaping pace which few greyhounds can outstrip. Earl• in spring the does separate from the winter herd and in some retired spot bring forth usually t NN kids. The does and kids soon gather into hands for mutual assistance in resisting their foes, and in the early autumn they are joined by the bucks. whose horns are new, and who engage in fierce contests for the possession of the does. In for mer days these bands numbered thousands, and those in the northern districts regularly migrated to the southward when snow came. At the be ginning of the present century the pronghorns lied been so reduced and scattered that no herds of great number could gather.
Consult: Caton, Antelope and Dar of America (New York, 1 877) : Lydekker, Royal Natural History, vol. ii. (London. 1.)95) Canfield. Pro callings of the Zoological Society (London. 1 sOli) : and on sport iu the 'Western United States and Canada.