s.

[Illustration: Antelope]

Antelope (_Antilocapra americana_)

The antelope is famous as the swiftest quadruped native in America. It
is a small creature, less than a common deer; a fair-sized buck weighs
about one hundred pounds. It is known by its rich buff color with pure
white patches, by having only two hoofs on each foot, and by the horns
which are of true horn, like those of a goat, but have a snag or
branch and are shed each year. In the female the horns are little
points about an inch long.

Formerly the antelope abounded on all the high plains from Manitoba to
Mexico and west to Oregon and California. It is now reduced to a few
straggling bands in the central and wildest parts of the region.

Mountain Goat (_Oreamnos montanus_)

The mountain goat is known at once by its pure white coat of wool and
hair, its black horns, and peculiar shape. It is {136} above the size
of a common deer; that is, a full grown male weighs two hundred and
fifty to three hundred pounds; the female a third less. It is famous
for its wonderful power as a rock climber and mountaineer. It is found
in the higher Rockies, chiefly above timber lines, from central Idaho
to Alaska.

[Illustration: Goat]

[Illustration: Woodchuck]

[Illustration: Beaver]

Woodchuck (_Marmota monax_)

The common woodchuck is a grizzly brown on the back, chestnut on the
breast, blackish on the crown and paws, and whitish on the cheeks. Its
short ears and bushy tail are important characteristics. It measures
about twenty-four inches of which the tail is five and a half inches
and weighs five to ten pounds.

It is found in all the wooded parts of Canada from the Rockies to the
Atlantic and south in the eastern states to about 40 degrees latitude.

Beaver (_Castor canadensis_)

The beaver is known by its great size--weighing from twenty-five to
fifty pounds--its chestnut color, darker on the crown, its webbed
feet, and its broad, flat, naked, scaly tail. The pelt of this animal
is a valuable fur. The creature is famous for building dams and
digging canals. It was found wherever there was water and timber in
North America north of Mexico, but is now exterminated in most highly
settled regions.

Muskrat (_Fiber zibethicus_)

The muskrat is about the size of a cat; that is, it is twenty-one
inches long, of which the tail is ten inches. In color it somewhat
resembles the beaver, but its feet are not conspicuously webbed,