ch. xiv] THE CRAZE FOR “ RECORDS ” 
415 
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 measurements 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 com¬ 
pletely to 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 horn-bearing 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 sportsman¬ 
like 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 proportion in connection therewith. It 
is just as with philately, or heraldry, 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 amusement; it is only when the student or 
collector allows himself utterly to overestimate the 
importance of his pursuit that it becomes ridiculous. 
