XIV INTRODUCTION 



specimens, and it is these that have now become the property 

 of the nation. 



"The collection, which embraces specimens not only 

 from India proper, but from the Himalaya, Kuen-lun, the 

 Pamirs, Burma, etc., was made at a time when the big game 

 of many parts of this area was more abundant than is the 

 case at the present day, and consequently includes finer 

 examples of many species than are now obtainable. And 

 it is this which constitutes its chief value and interest, as 

 it would nowadays be impossible to bring together a similar 

 collection. Mr. Hume never did things by halves, and 

 when his collections of big-game trophies and birds were 

 made he had collectors or agents at work in all the countries 

 accessible from India. 



" Nowadays, it is almost superfluous to mention, sports- 

 men attach a high value to heads which are 'records/ or 

 nearly such, in the matter of horn-length ; and it is obvious 

 that as many specimens as possible of this class as being 

 the finest and handsomest of their kind ought to be in the 

 national collection. In specimens of this nature the Hume 

 bequest is particularly rich, containing four which appear to 

 be ' records ' in their particular species or race, and many 

 others which approximate more or less closely in dimensions 

 to this standard. 



" Among the species represented by unusually fine heads 

 are the yak of Tibet, the chiru antelope, with its long 

 V-shaped black horns, of the same area, the Goitred, 

 Yarkand, and Indian gazelles, the blackbuck of the plains 

 of India, the markhor goat and ibex of the Himalaya, the 

 tahr or ibex of the Nilgiris which survives as the result 

 of Government protection the gaur of the Pachmarri and 

 other Indian hill-ranges, and the buffalo of Assam. Wild 

 sheep are strongly represented, the chief species and races 

 being the Tibetan race of the argali, Marco Polo's sheep of 

 the Pamir, the smaller tirial of the Punjab and Ladak, and 

 the Tibetan bharal, which stands midway between sheep and 

 goats. 



" Among the deer tribe the place of honour belongs to 

 the Sikhirn stag, or shou, of which there are two magnificent 



