NO. I 



THE WHITE RHINOCEROS HELLER 



49 



South African white rhinos may be due to measuring to the top of 

 this hump. I am also puzzled by what seems to be the great inferiority 

 in horn development of these square-mouthed rhinos of the Lado to 

 the square-mouthed or white rhinos of South Africa (and, by the way, 

 I may mention that on the whole these Lado rhinos certainly looked 

 lighter colored, when we came across them standing in the open, 

 than did their prehensile-lipped East African brethren). We saw 

 between thirty and forty square-mouthed rhinos in the Lado, and Ker- 

 mit's cow had much the longest horn of any of them ; and while they 

 averaged much better horns than the black rhinos we had seen in 

 East Africa, between one and two hundred in number, there were any 

 number of exceptions on both sides. There are recorded measure- 

 ments of white rhino horns from South Africa double as long as our 

 longest from the Lado. Now this is, scientifically, a fact of some 

 importance, but it is of no consequence whatever when compared with 

 the question as to what, if any, the difference is between the average 

 horns ; and this last fact is very difficult to ascertain, largely because 

 of the foolish obsession for ' record ' heads which seems to completely 

 absorb so many hunters who write. What we need at the moment is 

 more information about the average South African heads. There 

 are to be found among most kinds of hornbearing animals individuals 

 with horns of wholly exceptional size, just as among all nations there 

 are individuals of wholly exceptional height. But a comparison of 

 these wholly exceptional horns, although it has a certain value, is, 

 scientifically, much like a comparison of the giants of different nations. 

 A good head is of course better than a poor one ; and a special effort to 

 secure an exceptional head is sportsmanlike and proper. But to let 

 the desire for ' record ' heads, to the exclusion of all else, become a 

 craze, is absurd. The making of such a collection is in itself not only 

 proper but meritorious; all I object to is the loss of all sense of pro- 

 portion in connection therewith. It is just as with philately, or her- 

 aldry, or collecting the signatures of famous men. The study of 

 stamps, or of coats of arms, or the collecting of autographs, is an 

 entirely legitimate amusement, and may be more than a mere amuse- 

 ment ; it is only when the student or collector allows himself utterly to 

 misestimate the importance of his pursuit that it becomes ridiculous. 



" .... Of rhinoceros, all square-mouthed, we saw nine, none 

 carrying horns which made them worth shooting. The first one I saw 

 was in long grass. My attention was attracted by a row of white 

 objects moving at some speed through the top of the grass. It took 



