THE KEED-McMILLIN COLLECTION 





EMERSON McMlLLIN 



BY far the most important acces- 

 sion of the year 1907 was the 

 splendid collection of heads, 

 horns and skins of Alaskan big 

 game (Plates X and XI) made by 

 Mr. A. S. Reed, of England, and 

 purchased and presented by Mr. 

 Kmerson McMillin. of New York. 



Ten years ago, the moose, cari- 

 bou, big brown bears and other game 

 animals of the Alaskan littoral were 

 much more numerous than they are 

 now, or ever will be again. The 

 hunters of even less than ten years 

 ago were able to take their pick of 

 the huge individuals who had fed fat 

 and grown colossal in size, without 

 the dangers and casualties of to-day. In 1900, heads were obtainable by 

 persistent sportsmen which now are very hard to secure in the wilds. The 

 period of real moose and caribou slaughter set in about 1900, and since that date 

 very few sportsmen have collected moose-heads of 70 inches or above. 



From 1896 to 1902 A. S. Reed, an Englishman, lived at Victoria, B. 

 C., and made frequent hunting expeditions to Alaska and northern British 

 Columbia. It was his practice to hunt the large horned game very late in the 

 fall or in the early winter, and to seek bears at the earliest possible period in the 

 spring. The choicest of all the heads and skins taken on these half-dozen ex- 

 peditions were carefully preserved, and afterward mounted in Victoria. Mr. 

 Reed's work was done by Fred. Foster, who certainly is one of the best 

 taxidermists of the whole Pacific coast, and it has been so well executed that 

 we are able to regard it with genuine satisfaction. 



In the most sportsmanlike manner, Mr. Reed finally accumulated a large 

 collection of exceedingly valuable specimens, all in a fine state of preservation. 



