378 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[March 6, 1909. 
African Heads and Horns. 
All persons who have noted during recent 
years the geographical development of Africa 
are aware of the fact that between 1894 and 1900 
Dr. A. Donaldson Smith, of Philadelphia, made 
two important explorations in Northeastern 
Africa, between Lake Rudolph, Southern Abys¬ 
sinia, the Nile and the Indian Ocean. Dr. 
Smith’s work was of a high character, and his 
results were of such 
value to the world that 
the Royal Geographical 
Society, the American 
Geographical Society 
and others awarded him 
the gold medals which 
represented the highest 
honors they could be¬ 
stow. The story of his 
first expedition is re¬ 
corded in his book en¬ 
titled, “Through Un¬ 
known African Coun¬ 
tries.” 
.Later on Dr. Smith 
visited some of the 
finest hunting grounds 
of India and shot a 
gentleman’s portion of 
big game. Recently 
Madison Grant, secre¬ 
tary of the New York 
Zoological Society, 
learned that Dr. Smith’s 
collection of heads and 
horns was badly scat¬ 
tered, and some of the 
specimens were deterior¬ 
ating through lack of 
care. On inquiry he as¬ 
certained that Dr. Smith 
would be willing to part 
with his collection pro¬ 
vided it could go on 
public e.xhibition and be 
permanently preserved. 
A valuation was agreed 
upon, and at the sug¬ 
gestion of Mr. Grant, 
George J. Gould, a mem¬ 
ber of the Zoological 
Society’s board of man¬ 
agers, at once signified 
his willingness to place 
the entire lot of speci¬ 
mens in the National 
Collection of Heads and 
Horns as his gift. 
The matter was quick¬ 
ly consummated, and two weeks ago the col¬ 
lection arrived at the Zoological Park. It was 
placed in the hands of John Murgatroyd for 
renovation, and last week that work was fin¬ 
ished. The entire collection now hangs in the 
alcove of the Lion House and completely fills 
the large central panel. To protect the speci¬ 
mens, a temporary wooden screen has been 
erected across the front of the alcove, but any 
sportsman or zoologist who applies to one of 
the keepers of the Lion House will be afforded 
an opportunity to inspect the collection. 
The Donaldson Smith collection is of par¬ 
ticular interest and value because it covers a 
thrown open to the millions who visit the 
Zoological Park. 
The Sportsmen’s Show. 
The Sportsmen’s Show opened in Madison 
Square Garden, New York city, the night of 
Feb. 26, and will close to-night, March 6. The 
generally fair weather has induced large crowds 
to attend, afternoon and night, and they came 
away well pleased with 
the exhibition and with 
the entertainment fur¬ 
nished. 
The camps, the guides, 
the trade exhibits and 
the shooting and athletic 
events all attract the 
visitors by turns, while 
the fly- and bait-casting 
has proved to be quite a 
feature. For the first 
time in the history of 
these shows, the casting 
has been under the aus¬ 
pices of an amateur 
organization, just as 
recent swimming and 
other athletic events 
have been under Ama¬ 
teur Athletic Union 
management. 
The Anglers’ Club of 
New York has charge 
of the casting contests, 
and for the first time in 
the Garden it has classi¬ 
fied the casters, making 
a portion of the events 
open to all, and the rest 
open to amateurs only. 
So great has been the 
increase in skill in dis¬ 
tance casting in recent 
years that no previous 
arrangement of the 
tank in the Garden has 
proved adequate, but 
this year a tank 215 feet 
in length was built. It 
remains to be seen 
whether even this will 
prove long enough. 
A great many anglers 
have availed themselves 
of the opportunity to 
practice here during the 
winter, and the three 
events held every day 
have been well patron¬ 
ized. The Anglers’ Club has nearly one hun¬ 
dred members on its rolls now, with a number 
on the waiting list. It will manage the great 
national tournament next September, and is 
forming plans to make this the most interest¬ 
ing event of its kind of any so far held in this 
country. 
Full details of the casting tournament, and 
mention of the many other interesting features 
of the Sportsmen’s Show, will be given in these 
columns next week, as the more important 
events took place too late in the present week 
for insertion in this issue of Forest and 
Stream. 
locality that is rarely penetrated by travelers 
or sportsmen and contains many objects of un¬ 
usual zoological interest. The prime rarities are 
the following: Mounted heads of reticulated 
giraffe, Abyssinian buffalo (Bos equinoctialis), 
Topi antelope (Damalicus jimela), Smith’s dik- 
dik, bottle-nosed gazelle, Lelwel harte-beest, 
Grevy zebra, black rhinoceros, gerenuk, lesser 
kudu, Bright-Grant gazelle, Ruppel reedbuck and 
wart-hog. In addition to the above there are 
DONALDSON SMITH’S COLLECTION IN THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF HEADS AND HORNS. 
heads and horns of beisa, oryx, reedbuck, Thom¬ 
son gazelle and Stephanie waterbuck. There 
are five pairs of rhinoceros horns and a fine 
massive pair of elephant tusks, each tusk well 
over seven feet in length and weighing respec¬ 
tively 108 and 100 pounds. 
The collection also contains splendid heads of 
arni, or Indian buffalo, and gaur, besides a tiger 
head and sloth bear. 
On the whole this collection constitutes a 
very valuable addition to the National Col¬ 
lection, and serves the addition.^1 purpose of 
hastening the day when the whole scries will 
be provided with a building of its own and 
