Head- Measurements of Trophies 



two works published with special reference to the ques- 

 tion of horn measurements. One is the "Catalogue and 

 Notes of the American Hunting Trophies Exhibition " at 

 London in 1887. The moving spirit in this exhibition 

 was Mr. E, M. Buxton, who was assisted by all the most 

 noted English sportsmen who had shot in America. The 

 result was a noteworthy collection of trophies, almost all 

 of which belonged to animals shot by the exhibitors 

 themselves. Very few Americans took part in the exhi- 

 bition, though several did so, one of the two finest moose 

 heads being exhibited by an American sportsman. 



The other big game book quoted is Rowland Ward's 

 "Measurements," published in London in 1892. This is 

 a very valuable compilation of authentic records of horn 

 measurements gathered from many different sources. In 

 many cases it quotes from Mr. Buxton's catalogue. The 

 largest elk head, for instance, given by Ward is the one 

 mentioned in the Buxton catalogue. But in most in- 

 stances the top measurements given by Ward stand 

 above the top measurements given in the catalogue, 

 because the latter, as already said, contains only a 

 record of the trophies of amateur sportsmen, whereas 

 many of Ward's best measurements are from museum 

 specimens, or from picked heads obtained from furriers 

 or taxidermists, who chose the best out of those pre- 

 sented by many hundreds of professional hunters. 



At the Madison Square exhibition there were numer- 

 ous bear skins, polar, grizzly and black, submitted by 

 men who had shot them. There were a few wolf and 

 cougar skins and one peccary head ; but there was no 

 satisfactory way of making measurements of any of 

 these. The peccary's head, which was submitted by Mr. 



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