Pronghorn
- The prongbuck (Antilocapra americana) is almost universally known in America as "antelope."; yet it is, in reality, not an antelope at all, but a very peculiar beast which stands in a position nearly as unique as that of the giraffe and okapi, being the only hollow-horned ruminant which annually sheds its horns. Pronghorns were formerly found all over the great plains of western North America from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and from Northern Mexico to the Saskatchewan. Like all other big game, their numbers have been very much reduced.
They hold their own, of course, far better than great beasts like the bison and wapiti, where the conditions are similar: in many places where all three were formerly abundant the pronghorn is now the only survivor, though sadly thinned in numbers. But he is, when left to himself, purely a beast of the prairie and the open plains, and like all such beasts he vanishes far more quickly than those that dwell in the shelter of the tangled forests; the white-tail deer always outlasts him.
When much persecuted, pronghorns are driven into rough and even into wooded country, but their chosen ground is the open grass land. In power of eyesight they far surpass deer, and their noses are good. In consequence, they are very difficult to stalk; for they are always found far from cover.
Their tactics are just the reverse of those of white-tail deer. The white-tail's one object is to avoid observation; he trusts to sheltering himself so that the hunter will not see him. The pronghorn does not care in the least whether he is seen or not, and indeed is usually found in some conspicuous position where he challenges attention: all that he wishes is to be sure that he sees everything within half a mile or more.
Formerly it was possible to take advantage of the curiosity of the prongbuck and lure him toward the hunter by means of a red handkerchief, or something similar; but there are very few regions nowadays where the game is so unsophistocated. At present pronghorns are usually killed by fair stalking. They are also sometimes followed on horseback with the rifle, and they afford the best sport of all when regularly coursed with greyhounds.
Stalking antelope is very different work from still-hunting deer, wapiti, and moose, or climbing after mountain sheep and goats.
More than any of these sports it necessitates skill in the use of the long-range rifle, the shots being customarily taken at standing objects, a rather long distance off. There is no need for the noiseless stealth of the hunter who follows his quarry through thick woods, and though long walks over the rough prairie grass give plenty of exer- PRONGHORN.
Haldwell 1897 cise, they are, of course, wholly free from the difficulty and fatigue of mountaineering.
But there is much need to show the stalker's skill in the actual approach to the game.
If the pronghorn once sees the hunter, the latter's chances are gone, unless the quarry suffers from one of those queer, freakish fits which occasionally attack it. The hunter must spy out the land with such care as surely to get the first glimpse of the animals he is after. He may see them either feeding or lying down, for they graze and rest at all hours of the day. Once seen, I think the lying down animal is easier to approach, because it cannot see so far, and, moreover, it is not continually shifting its position and thereby increasing its chance of destroying the benefit of the very little shelter the hunter has. At first sight it seems impossible to stalk anything on the plains, for to all appearance there is no cover whatever. Nevertheless, in most BB2 places the ground is not really perfectly flat. There are slight rolls, making very gentle hillocks and valleys; and there are small watercourses which here and there make cut banks, though only a few inches in height. Often a band of pronghorns will be in an entirely impossible position-indeed, I think I may say that this is generally the case; but if carefully watched and followed they are apt, sooner or later, to get into some position where it is possible to approach within long rifle range. A good part of the stalk must be made on hands and knees, and the remainder flat on one's stomach, hitching along by means of the elbows. Occasionally, of course, the animals are found in places where the hunter can get a close shot, but ordinarily they must be killed at long range. In consequence, they are usually shot at a much greater distance than any other American game, and from this it follows as a corollary that more cartridges are expended for every head bagged than in any other kind of hunting.
Pronghorns can run away from any ordinary horse; but when once they have taken their line of flight they hate to swerve from it, and advantage can often be taken of this peculiarity by riding at an angle tc their course to get a shot at them.
When I did my first shooting on the plains, in the 'eighties, there was plenty of other game, and I rather looked down on pronghorns; but later on I followed them to the exclusion of everything, except an occasional deer or sheep, on the few occasions when I was able to get out to my ranche.
For a fuller account of their habits and chase I would refer to my books, The Wilderness Hunter, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, and Ranche Life and the Hunting Trail, and also to the chapters I have written on the subject in the three volumes of the Boone and Crockett Club.
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THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
PTARMIGAN (Lagopus mutus). - Distribution. Unlike the red grouse, which we can claim as belonging solely to the British Isles, the ptarmigan is found in various types-all very closely alliedthroughout the Arctic and Sub-arctic regions of the northern hemisphere.
Scotland, Norway, Russia, Siberia, North America, Canada, Greenland, and the islands of Iceland, Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, can all boast their ptarmigan, and but for their welcome presence many a traveller in these northern lands would have to subsist on very hard fare indeed. [PRONGHORN In the countries frequented by the ptarmigan in its more southern range, the bird is found in the picturesque solitudes of the highest mountains, for there only can it obtain its food, which consists of Arctic berries, &c. As we move to more northern latitudes the birds are found on ground of the same character, but at lower levels, for in northern Iceland and Spitzbergen they are found right down amongst the rocks by the sea.
In severe winters, too, immense numbers of the fjal-ripa, which are almost identical with our ptarmigan, have been known to leave the high grounds of Norway and migrate across the strip of water to the flat shores of the Lofoden Islands, where they have been killed in thousands on the sea shores.
We must turn, however, to our own type, which is the most interesting to British sportsmen.
Natural History. - Most sportsmen and naturalists are already familiar with the general appearance of the ptarmigan, and have been struck by the marvellous provision of Nature which enables this beautiful creature to assimilate itself to its surroundings, in accordance with the seasonal changes of landscape. Every month sees some alteration in the plumage which, apparently at the will of the bird, becomes white, grey, red, or brown, as its surroundings alter, although parts of the wings, stomach, and legs remain white at all seasons.
Ptarmigan frequent nearly all the summits of the hills over 1,500 feet, in the deer forests of Ross, Sutherland, Inverness, Aberdeen, Argyle, and Perth. They also exist in the Western Isles, and, till recently, they were found in the Hoy Hills in the Orkneys, but they have long been extinct in Cumberland and Wales. Ptarmigan are monogamous, like grouse, but they do not split up into pairs at once, after the males have had loose fights with others, but the whole covey holds a sort of day-break tournament, in which the males fight somewhat after the manner of the blackcocks. The same spot is resorted to every morning at daybreak, but it is not maintained from year to year like the blackcocks' playing ground. The call of the male is a prolonged croak like the syllable "a-r-r-r-r," and that of the female "ee-ac."
The ptarmigan makes its nest about the first week in June, amongst the moss and stones, and it is one of the most difficult to find in the British list, as I can attest from personal experience. The female bird will scarcely move unless touched, and also PTARMIGAN] seems to give out no scent when sitting, so that a dog will not find her. Whilst in Iceland, in 1889, I found the male ptarmigan a most brave and daring bird in defence of his young ones, if one accidentally disturbed a female with chicks. The mother would give a call, and immediately the cock would come flying at great speed towards the intruder, as if to attack him, only just swerving off when within a few feet. He showed far greater concern and excitement about his family than any cock grouse would do. are are Males generally shy when found by themselves, but if the weather is fine and still, and a whole covey is met with, there are no birds more easily approached.
Ptarmigan very much affected by the weather, and are as unapproachable in rain and storms as they are tame on a still, sunny day. They possess the power of ventriloquising to quite as great an extent as the corncrakes, and sometimes, if you lost in the mist, and the ptarmigan are croaking all around, you are Henry Stannard. climb to their magnificent solitudes and shoot a few brace.
There is a fascination about the panoramic view, the exhilarating air, and "the towers of eternal silence," that gives this sport a quality all its own.
The novice will find it difficult to see ptarmigan, and, though so tame, when once on the wing they get away very smartly, and one has to be sharp with the second barrel PTARMIGAN. may walk for a long time without seeing one, although you think you could locate the position of the birds exactly from their call.
Though the ptarmigan and the grouse occupy at certain seasons the same ground, there is no authenticated instance of their interbreeding.
Shooting. Though exposed to the attacks of foxes and eagles, the ptarmigan leads a life of safety as compared with that of other species of game birds. But a day on the tops, amidst the scenes of alternate gloom and splendour, such as only Scotland can present, is often more delightful than moor shooting on tamer ground. It is only once or twice, after the stalking is over, that a stray gunner may perchance a to kill a brace neatly, for the birds are round a corner in moment. a a They nearly always rise all at once, keeping close together, and straight shooting is essential to make any sort of a bag, for the game in a few seconds will cross chasms and disappear into rocks that would take you hours to reach.
Dogs are of little use in this kind of shooting, for the ground is often too difficult to work, and so full of blue hares as to upset the steadiness of any but an old and tried animal. A good old pointer may be very useful in finding wounded birds, &c.; but the chances are that you will see as many yourself as the dog does, from the habit of the old cock, and sometimes of the whole brood, of standing up on the rocks and croaking.
The best ptarmigan ground in Scotland is to be found in the mountains of Ross-shire near Loch Maree, and on Auchnashellach sixty brace have been killed in one day by a single gun. Driving is occasionally practised, but it is hardly worth the trouble of organising beats on ground where things may go wrong in a moment, unless the game is very numerous. In Gaick Forest they generally have a drive at the end of the season, which results in from about twentyfive to thirty brace being killed. J. G. MILLAIS.
PUMA (Felis concolor)—The puma or cougar, also known as panther or painter, and as mountain lion and Mexican lion, is found from Patagonia to southern Canada.
It is now very rare in most places north of Mexico, except in the Rocky Mountains and Coast Ranges, where it is locally not uncom- It was formerly very plentiful in the Southern States; but, for some unexplained reason, neither the puma nor the wolf hold their ground in the presence of man so well as the black bear, which nevertheless seems mon.
Valdwell 1897 PUMA. an easier animal to kill than either of them.
Like all cats, the puma is not difficult to trap. It is, however, extremely difficult to kill according to the ordinary methods of the still hunter. The rifleman who trusts merely to his own skill hardly ever runs across the puma, except by accident. In all my hunting I have come across but two, both by chance; and of these one escaped.
If dogs are used, however, the puma is by no means a difficult quarry. In the wilder portions of the Southern States the puma was often killed in olden times by the packs with which the planters hunted the deer and the grey fox; hounds readily run the trail of the puma, showing none of the fear and disgust which they are apt to betray at the scent of the wolf. These packs rarely did more than bay the puma, which was then shot by the hunters. Occasionally the pack was specially trained to rush in and take hold, and the hunter ended the battle by a thrust with his knife.
In the Rocky Mountains, of recent years, the practice has grown up in several locali- [PUMA ties of following the puma on foot with packs of dogs specially trained for the purpose. Such packs usually contain both the ordinary hound generally used in the chase of the deer and the fox, and large, active, hard-biting dogs, by preference collies. The puma will sometimes make a long and hard run, especially in difficult ground. At other times it will come to bay very speedily; or, what is more common, climb a tree. The puma is perhaps the least formidable of all the large cats, in spite of its extreme agility, for it is cowardly, and its head and jaws are small compared with the jaguar. There are on record authentic instances of its attacking man, but these are wholly exceptional. Even when at bay it can usually be killed without much danger; but it is never safe to take liberties with it, for exceptional individuals display the utmost ferocity, and I have known of several instances of men being maimed, and even killed in such contests. If the dogs are well trained, however, they usually occupy the puma's attention to the exclusion of everything else; and five or six of them, even ordinary hounds and collies, if thoroughly entered to their work, can themselves kill a puma. Such a fighting pack performs the work in the most businesslike manner, each dog having its own favourite hold, and each being confident in the support of its fellows. If a wolf is throttled by a powerful dog, it can inflict little damage; but if the puma is throttled it may rip open the dog with its hind claws.
A trained pack will, therefore, rush in together and spread-eagle the puma, which is then soon worried to death. Accidents to the pack, of course, frequently happen.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
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