INTRODUCTION 
XXV 
bottom line, and another to mark the top of shoulders, at the skin. The distance between the 
two perpendiculars, in a straight line, will be the true height of the animal. Do not follow any 
curves. 
2. The “ Length of head and body” must be obtained in a straight line between root of tail 
and end of nose, with the head drawn straight forward, and not following any curves. The “Length 
of tail” is from its base to the end of the vertebrae. 
3. The “Girth” is the tight circumference of the animal immediately behind the forelegs. 
4. The “ Depth of the body” is the distance in a straight line from the top of the shoulders 
to the brisket, or lower line of the breast, immediately behind the foreleg. To artists, sculptors, 
and taxidermists, this is a very important measurement. 
5. The “ Circumference of the neck” is taken half way between the ears and shoulders, close 
to the skin. 
6. The “Length from head of femur to head of humerus” is also a highly valuable figure for 
artists, and it is easily taken by feeling through the skin for the high points of those joints. 
7. Weigh an animal before it is “dressed”', but if the dressed weight of a deer is known, a 
close approximation to its live weight can be obtained by the aid of the rule given on page 124. 
Antlers and Horns 
1. The “Length on outer curve” is obtained by starting the tape line at the base of the horn, 
at its lowest point on the face, and following the curves or windings of the horn, quite to the tip. 
In horns that are deeply ringed, such as those of the large African antelopes, the tape must not 
be pressed into the hollows between the ridges. 
2. The “ Greatest spread” is taken from outside to outside of the antlers where they spread 
widest! This should not be taken inside the horns, for that does not represent the real width of 
the horns, any more than interior measurements would represent the spread of a tree. 
3. The “ Distance between tips” needs no explanation. 
4. The “Circumference at base” should, for all bo vines, sheep, goats, ibex, and deer, be taken 
in a circle around the largest diameter of the horns. The tape should not follow the meanderings of 
the end of a sheep’s horn. With the antlers of all members of the Deer Family, the circumfer- 
ence should be measured immediately above the burr. 
5. “ Width of palmation” of moose and caribou should always be measured where the pal- 
mation is widest. 
6. A “ Point” on an antler is any pointed projection of sufficient length that a watch can 
hang upon it without falling off. 
7. The “Weight of horns” must state whether it be with “entire skull,” or “with skull-piece” 
only. 
8. Shed antlers that have been set artificially on a manufactured skull, or frame, are not 
entitled to measurement for “spread”; but where a skull has been sawn in two lengthwise by a clean 
cut, and bolted together again without alteration of the sawii surfaces, it is entitled to measurement 
for “spread” and “distance between tips.” 
