I T is quite possible to possess large sections of the world, as a tenant-at-will, without the bother of paying taxes upon them. Bring together about two hundred carefully selected heads and horns of large animals, and the best game regions of the world will be yours. Dull, indeed, is the imagination which can look up to the head of a white mountain-sheep and not behold rock-strewn ridges, saw-toothed crags, snowy peaks, and frowsy-Indian specimens of the white man's burden. The most commonplace pair of musk-ox horns will conjure up a bunch of twenty dark-brown, shaggy animals, standing head on to the attack; rocky hills and barren plains of snow, ice, and gravel; a dreary camp somewhere along the ice-foot, and general desolation. Here is a recipe which I warrant will place you in possession of the finest portion of south-eastern Africa between Uganda and the Limpopo: To 1 large map of Africa and 6 good books of African sport and travel, add 1 pair of well-twisted kudu horns, an extra-broad pair of African buffalo horns, and I pair each of horns of oryx, sable antelope, gnu, eland, hartebeest, and springbok. Place the map and books on your study table, hang the horns in an artistic group on your most conspicuous wall, and you may enjoy the whole pasture region of South Africa. A collection of heads and horns with a special raison d'être quickly becomes a source of general interest. But the object of a collection should be something more than a desire to prove by trial "how many kinds" it is possible to bring together. On that sordid basis, the collecting of scissors would be quite as interesting as the collecting of horns, and far more commendable. One Objects vary, with a vengeance. man whom I know collects only in order to furnish a certain room in his countryhouse; another to have an up-to-date "den." Another gathers horns to show the freaks and moods of Nature, as manifested in peculiar horn-growths. There are those who will have about them neither head nor horn that does not stand for some particular phase of the owner's manhood and skill in the chase; but all such lose much of zoological value which they might easily possess for the sake of comparison with their own trophies. It is well, however, that most men care Copyright, 1905, by Charles Scribner's Sons. All rights reserved. only for heads and horns of their own shooting; for too much commercialism in such objects would quickly exterminate, all over the world, the surviving remnant of the world's big game. But for the stoppage by law, in 1903, of the commercial moosehead business in Alaska, about five years more would have seen the finish of Alces americanus in our arctic province. My chief object in obtaining and hanging up heads and horns was to grind deeply into a treacherous memory the personalities of many rare animals, which somehow were known to me but dimly and ineffectively. Then, too, specimens were needed for daily reference, and as object-lessons of a most necessary kind. And so the microbe found lodgment; and my soul from out its clutches shall be lifted nevermore. wearers, the horns of all true bovines are disproportionately small and plain-looking. The Indian Bison (Bos gaurus) is the largest and heaviest of all the members of Group 1, but in comparison with his bulky body, his horns are small. The pair shown Musk-Ox, Bison, and Buffalo. Musk-Ox (Ovibos wardi) from eastern Greenland. Indian Bison, or Gaur (Bos gaurus), from southern India. Abyssinian Buffalo (Bos aquinoctialis) from Abyssinia. Cape Buffalo (Bos caffer) from Rhodesia, South Africa. Speaking generally, the horned animals of the world fall naturally into five welldefined groups, which are as follows: (1) The Bison, Buffaloes, and Wild Cattle. (2) The Mountain Sheep. (3) The Mountain Goats and Ibexes. (4) The Antelopes, of Africa and Asia. (5) The Deer, Caribou, and Moose. It is by no means difficult for any interested person to know the leading types of each of these groups, and, at the same time, the most conspicuous species of each continent. (1) But for the wild and savage Arna, or Indian Buffalo (Bubalis arni), we would be compelled to state that in comparison with the great bulk and importance of their herewith, which would be accepted anywhere as a large pair, measures only 16 inches in basal circumference, 26 inches along curve, and spread at their widest point 31 inches. This is the animal which roams in herds of twenty or thirty individuals through the beautiful open forests on the Animally Hills of southern India, leaps over a wide gap to Burma, thence wanders southward through nearly the whole length of the Malay Peninsula. And it was a wounded bull of this mighty species which in 1896 furiously attacked my old friend Capt. H. C. Syers, in Selangor, threw him thirty feet into the air, and killed him. The horns of this species are smooth, well polished, and excepting the black tips, are clear white. The largest pair on record measures 20 inches in circumference, 46 inches in widest outside spread, and is owned by H. Da. Prah. If the horns of the Gaur are small, those of the black-hided Indian Buffalo are, in comparison, fairly gigantic. And how on earth does the Arna make way through reeds and scrubby forest with horns that have a crosswise spread of from six to eight jeet? If the pair now in the British Museum do not spread fully eight feet, then have I lost the power to estimate. At all events, the longest horn of the pair has a length on the curve of 6 feet 5% inches! The horns of the Arna are very smooth, well flattened on the upper surface, jet black, and when fresh are as shiny as if recently varnished. The pair shown in the title illustration spread 56 inches, and are 41 inches between tips. Apparently the horns of the MuskOx seem to have been specially designed for puncturing the throats and abdominal regions of hungry wolves. The adult horn is neither more nor less than a huge hook of bone, excellently fashioned and placed for its purpose, and properly sharp at the point. But for this admirable weapon, Ovibos would not to-day inhabit the extreme northerly lands of North America, where fierce wolves abound. Like the Musk Ox, the African Buffalo has horns that are enormously flattened at the base, and which nearly meet on the top of the head. (Bos aquinoctialis); and both species are shown in the illustration. Caffer measures, in length on curve, 38; spread, 38; and 9 inches in width across the base in a straight line. The other is respectively 29, 33, and 9 inches. But, big as they are, neither of these is truly immense. The record measurements for caffer are: spread, 49; width, 11; and for the Abyssinian species, spread, 40, width, 11. Horn of Chilian Guemal. Smallest of American branch-horned deer. One-half actual size. The greatest of the Ibexes. If you have not noticed it previously, a good collection of horns will impress your mind with the fact that there are two species of Buffalo in East Africa, instead of one only, as we were long accustomed to believe. The one of the South has horns that are well rounded on the upper surface of the base, and that sweep down and again à la musk-ox. This is the Cape Buffalo, (Bos caffer). The horns of the species of Abyssinia, Uganda and round about, are flat on the upper surface, and the ends thrust up without the downward droop. This is the Abyssinian Buffalo up The glory of the great American Bison does not lie in his horns. They are even smaller than those of the Indian Bison, and on the living adult bull, excepting the terminal third or half, they are buried out of sight in the shaggy frontlet. In old age, they deteriorate rapidly, become splintered or "stubbed" at the tip, and at the last become positively unsightly. The largest pair on record measure in basal circumference 16 inches, and in length on curve 201. The smallest horns of true buffalo or bison are those of the red Congo Buffalo (Bos nanus), which are flat, and suitable for carrying in a small suit-case, with a spread of only 16 inches. (2) The mountain sheep of the world appeal quite strongly to everyone who cares for hoofed animals. These bold and hardy mountaineers usually dwell where the face |