The Heads and Horns Collection. 
The National Collection of Heads and Horns, 
lately projected by Madison Grant, for the Boone 
and Crockett Club, Dr. William T. Hornaday for 
the Camp-Fire Club, and John M. Phillips, for 
the Lewis and Clark Club, is well on its feet 
now as an institution, with Dr. Hornaday’s own 
private collection of over a hundred rare and 
valuable specimens surrendered in gift as basis 
and foundation. 
Now the cheerftil word goes round to Ameri¬ 
can sportsmen at large that theirs is the oppor¬ 
tunity to contribute specimens whereby they may 
be memorkdized for all times in the temple of 
Nimrod. It matters not whether their gifts are 
tlae result of personal prowess or of funds do¬ 
nated to the committee on admissions and ex¬ 
pended by it on some prize opportunity. In 
either case the credit for the exhibit will adhere 
for all time to the donor and in either case, too, 
a specimen in the collection may serve as a peg 
on which to hang a tale of stirring deeds to his 
greater honor and glory. 
The collection will be under the direction of 
members of the big game hunting clubs as well 
as of sportsmen at large, and the committee, se¬ 
lected from them to acquire specimens and to 
pass judgment on gifts,, will maintain a high 
standard as the test of admission. It is not often 
that the casual hunter, limited in the time he 
can spare to the sport, is fortunate enough to 
bring down game that may brandish a world s 
record pair of horns. Such trophies fall to the 
native of the wilds and the patient gunner who 
spends all his days on the trail. Most sports¬ 
men will on this account satisfy their desire to 
make the collection a creditable one to America 
by subscribing to the purchase fund. 
The New York Zoological Society will main¬ 
tain the collection temporarily in the picture 
gallery of its Administration Building, in Bronx 
Park. New York city, when completed, and it is 
expected that in the course of time, when _ its 
size may warrant the procedure, a separate build¬ 
ing in the park may be provided by the city for 
its housing. 
Sportsmen and scientists are showing a keen 
interest in the project. Many of them feel that, 
owing to the rapid disappearance of the big game 
animals in America, as in most of the remain¬ 
ing quarters of the world, it is expedient to 
gather together all the evidences that are acces¬ 
sible for recording the existence of species that 
may soon be extinguished. 
The exhibit will be arranged in two series, one 
to demonstrate the evolutionary process of nature 
upon the horned species of the globe, the other 
to denote its geographical distribution accord¬ 
ing to countries and continents. Family group¬ 
ing will be observed in the arrangement, and 
inter-relationships will be thus comprehensible 
at a glance to the seeker after knowledge. Al¬ 
together the collection will be made a complete 
depository of information for the sportsmen, 
such as exists nowhere else in the world. 
In regard to head and horn collections only, 
there are several in Europe which it would be 
impossible to duplicate, notably that of the South 
Kensington Museum, London, where rare tro¬ 
phies have poured in for years. The foreign 
museums have had first pick of the wilds of the 
far east for so long that their resources are 
practically closed to the American enterprise of 
to-day, but there is no reason why a complete 
and record-breaking assortment of American 
horns and heads should not be gathered for the 
National Collection, and. this is planned. The 
first object of the management for the insurance 
of success in this specialty will be to obtain an 
abundance of material that zoologically the series 
will be complete. With this material on hand 
deletions can be made from time to time of un¬ 
worthy specimens in favor of a higher standard, 
until perfection reigns throughout the group. 
No such system of photographs, maps and 
statistical tables as planned by the management 
of the American exhibit obtains elsewhere, and 
it is proposed to make this an excelling feature. 
Photographs will show animals' of the horned 
kinds in native haunts and in captivity, and will 
serve to further illustrate the species in all its 
variations. Maps and charts will locate habitats 
AFRICAN ANTELOPE. 
1. Baker’s Roan Antelope. 2. Beisa. 3. Lesser Kudu. 
4. Torta Hartebeest. 5. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. 
6. Springbok. 7. Eland'. 8. Harnessed Antelope. 
9. Gemsbok Oryx. 10. Greater Kudu. 11. Brindled Gnu. 
12. Sable A.ntelope. 13. Grant’s Gazelle. 14. Pala. 
15. Hunter’s Antelope. 16. Jackson’s Hartebeest. 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIG HORN. 
and indicate distribution. Furthermore the splen- 
did library of the Zoological Society will be in- 
eluded in the exhibit and made accessible fori 
reference. 
The nucleus collection has for one of its rarest 
features a pair of elephant tusks that hold the j 
world’s record for size, being over eleven feetj 
in length. They are in fact so large that one; 
who first sees them is prone to believe that they 
have survived from some mammoth long ex¬ 
tinct. They were once the property of King 
Menelek, of Abyssinia, who gave them to a 
European officer. In the course of time they 
were brought to the London ivory market, 
whence they made their way into the possession 
of Mr. Charles T. Barney, who gave them to the 
New York Zoological Society. 
The National Collection owns two especially 
remarkable heads, one of a Rockv Mountain big¬ 
horn, the other of a white mountain goat, which 
were obtained from the northwestern wilds of 
this continent. To gun for either of these 
animals, the sheep in particular, is to exert one's 
self violently in body and soul. The sheep in¬ 
habitant of the mountains, at home among terri-i 
fying crags and precipices, perched on appall-; 
ingly precarious heights, and leaping across bot¬ 
tomless depths, is one of the noblest challenges 
to man’s hunting instinct, and his mounted head 
makes an effective monument to the prowess of 
his conqueror. One pair of horns in the collec¬ 
tion is from the great Siberian argali, the largest 
mountain sheep in the world, and wielder of 
the largest horns of his species. They ahe nearly 
five feet in length and measure in circumference 
at their base a little less than two feet. 
A remarkable set of horns among the goat 
species are those that once fronted the crest oi 
an, animal named the Suleiman Markhor ol 
Beluchistan. They resemble a pair of gimlets oi 
deadly efficiency, twenty-seven inches in length 
There are thirty-five specimens of antelope 
head gear in the collection, and it is a matter 
of conjecture as to whether most of these were 
designed for ornament or for use. Some shapes 
are of perfect grace, with prongs ringed 
“keeled,” crimpled or smooth, coming to.gethei 
like meeting arcs of a circle, or spreading ir 
open flying curves. 
An interesting feature is a mounted series ol 
twelve pairs of horns from the American bison 
showing their various growths at differen 
periods in the life of a bull from its early career 
as a yearling to its old age state as a “stiff 
horn.” This entire set was gathered from wile 
sources and can hardly be reproduced at this 
day. Others of the buffalo kind are represented 
by their horns, including specimens from India 
and the far east and buffaloes from the Cape and 
from other parts of Africa. 
A specialty has been made in the nucleus col¬ 
lection of deer antlers from rare foreign types 
including particularly some little known varieties 
from Asia. Scientifically speaking, the mosl 
valuable of these is the set of antlers from the 
head of a Pere David’s deer, a species .which 
once inhabited China, but now lives only in the 
few places where it is put on exhibition. Ini 
total living representation it numbers only 
twenty-eight individuals. Before the Boxer wai 
two hundred of these animals lived in the Em¬ 
peror’s Park near Pekin, but all of these were 
killed during the insurrection. There are onl} 
eleven other pairs of David deer antlers or 
record, and of these the set belonging to the 
National Collection takes third place in order; 
of superiority. A rare set of antlers- in the col¬ 
lection is derived from the Schomburgk deer: 
inhabitant of northern Siam. There are eigh. 
other specimens in existence, and this particular 
set takes second rank of excellence. 
One near ambition of the collection is. to fur 
nish itself with antlers of the Alaskan bul 
