IOLOOT 



V.IBRART 



THE NUCLEUS OF A NATIONAL COLLECTION 

 OF HEADS AND HORNS* 



U'iWam T. Hornaday, Sc.D. 



A1ONG nature-lovers, sportsmen, and also the general public, interest in 

 the horned animals of the world is rapidly increasing. This concentra- 

 tion of attention upon an order of mammals, which ever has commanded 

 a large share of public interest, is partly due to the rapid disappearance, and 

 in many cases the impending extinction, of its numbers and its species. At last 

 it is realized that without their rightful quota of wild life of the larger species, 

 the grandest mountains, the finest forests, and the most fertile plains become 

 dull and commonplace. 



To know thoroughly the horn-bearing mammals of the world is to know 

 the world also. Savage races of men may be, and usually are, easily spoiled by 

 contact with modern civilization, and the natural edge of native character is 

 quickly lost by contact with the grinding wheels of modern life and thought. 

 Hut not so the wild animals. Contact with man only serves to sharpen their 

 wits, point their perceptive powers, and stimulate new lines of thought and 

 action making for self-preservation. 



It is natural for one who is interested in a special group of animal forms 

 to desire a collection which in one way or another will represent its members. 

 Of groups which embrace only small-sized individuals, it is often possible for 

 one man to possess a large assortment of species and individuals. But in the 

 gratification of a taste involving individuals of large bulk, the limitations are 

 many and severe. With such important forms as the large hoofed mammals 

 of the world, it is not desirable that many men should be animated by the de- 

 sire for large collections. The undue gratification of too wide-spread a desire 

 for heads and horns, irrespective of their origin, would mean great and de- 

 plorable slaughter "for commercial purposes." A collection limited to per- 

 sonal trophies won by the owner is quite another matter, chiefly because of its 

 wholesome limitations; and in these days, no sportman or naturalist should 

 shoot more animals than he preserves. 



Presented to the New York Zoological Society, by the Author, December 19, 1906. 



JVJ371592 



