HEADS AND HORNS 



scattered through the different halls and apart- 

 ments of the vast structure. The moose antlers 

 were given the places of honor on the wall of the 

 Great Hall, over the dais on which a succession 

 of British sovereigns dined on the occasion of 

 state banquets. They are in a distinguished 

 company of trophies, representing the aristocracy 

 of English game animals of three hundred years 

 ago. 



European collectors, distrusting the skill of 

 taxidermists, often resort to the wood carvers 

 when having the horns of animals mounted for 

 exhibition. Most of the specimens now displayed 

 in European collections consist of the horns 

 with a portion of the skull attached — in many cases 

 the entire skull — the head-skin being thrown away. 

 The older and choicer specimens of antlers are 

 often attached to finely carved wooden heads, the 

 deep color of which preserves the appearance 

 of the real scalp. The wood carvers of Europe 

 in past generations have had many times to repro- 

 duce the head of the red deer, and rarely the head 

 of the European elk. Accordingly I was not 

 surprised a few years ago to see that the five sets 

 of moose antlers in the Great Hall at Hampton 

 Court were mounted on carved heads of Cervus 

 elaphus, the European kinsman of the American 



