i894 SOME NEW BOOKS. 381 



Science and Sport. 



Big Game Shooting (Badminton Library). By Clive Phillipps-Wolley. With 

 Contributions by Sir Samuel W. Baker, W. C. Oswell, F. J. Jackson, 

 Warburton Pike, F. C. Selous, Lieut. -Colonel R. Heber Percy, Arnold Pike, 

 Major Algernon C. Heber Percy, W. A. Baillie-Grohman, Sir Henry Pottinger, 

 Bart., Earl of Kilmorey, Abel Chapman, Walter J. Buck, and St. George 

 Littledale. 8vo. 2 vols., illustrated. London : Longmans & Co., 1893. Price 

 10/6 each vol. 



That a book on Big Game Shooting, written professedly for the 

 sportsman, should contain such a large amount of natural history, for 

 the most part excellently written and well up-to-date, as the one 

 before us, is a sign that sportsmen are taking a genuine interest in 

 zoology, and that their sole aim is no longer the making of the biggest 

 bag, or the securing the finest trophies. How heartily we welcome 

 this change from the old state of affairs it is unnecessary to mention, 

 but we hope the appearance of this most excellent work will aid in 

 stimulating all the slayers of Big Game to use their unrivalled oppor- 

 tunities of adding to our knowledge of the habits and distribution of 

 the animals they pursue. If we might add an additional plea, it 

 would be that they would incur a further obligation oh the part of 

 the working naturalist if they would occasionally give us some notes 

 on the life-histories of other little-known creatures, not coming under 

 the title of Big Game, which they must frequently come across in the 

 course of their wanderings. Such observations take but little time 

 to record, and will often serve to fill up an idle hour in camp. 



The large field covered by the work before us will be 

 well seen from the titles of the chapters, which are as follows : — 

 On Big Game Shooting generally, by C. P. Wolley ; South 

 Africa Fifty Years Ago, Second Expedition to South Africa, 

 Later Visits to South Africa, and With Livingstone in South 

 Africa, all by W. C. Oswell ; East Africa — Battery, Dress, Camp- 

 Gear, and Stores, Game Districts and Routes, The Caravan, 

 Headman, Gun-bearers, etc.. Hints on East Africa, Stalking, 

 Driving, etc., the Elephant, the African Buffalo, the Lion, the 

 Rhinoceros, the Hippopotamus, Ostriches and Giraffes, Antelopes, 

 all by F. J. Jackson; the Lion in South Africa, by F. C. Selous; 

 the Big Game of North America, the Caucasus, the Mountain Game 

 of the Caucasus, all by C. P. Wolley; the Musk-Ox, by W.',Pike; 

 Arctic Hunting, by Arnold Pike ; the Caucasian Aurochs, the Ovis 

 argali of Mongolia, and the Of /s /'o/i of the Pamir, by St. G. Littledale; 

 the Chamois, and the Stag of the Alps, by W. A. Baillie-Grohman ; 

 the Scandinavian Elk, by Sir Henry Pottinger ; European Big Game, 

 by Major A. H. Percy and the Earl of Kilmorey; the Large Game of 

 Spain and Portugal, by Abel Chapman and W. J. Buck ; and Indian 

 Shooting, by Lieut. -Col. R. H. Percy. 



Among these chapters, especial interest attaches to the one by 

 the late Mr. Oswell, on the condition of Africa, and the swarms of its 

 big game half-a-century ago ; although we can but recall with regret 

 that such an excellent observer should have been one of those who 

 assisted to no inconsiderable extent in the extermination of the so- 

 called white rhinoceros. And here we take the opportunity of calling 

 attention to the unrivalled excellence of the illustrations by Mr. 

 Charles Whymper, with which the volume is embellished, some of these 

 giving a better idea of what South Africa used to be in its palmy days 

 as a big game country, than any others that have come under our 

 notice. What more particularly strikes us is the fidelity to nature with 



