HUNTING LORE. 261 



As a woodland writer, Thoreau comes 

 second only to Burroughs. 



For natural history in the narrower sense 

 there are still no better books than Audubon 

 and Bachman's Mammals and Audubon's 

 Birds. There are also good works by men 

 like Coues and Bendire ; and if Hart Mer- 

 riam, of the Smithsonian, will only do for the 

 mammals of the United States what he has 

 already done for those of the Adirondacks, 

 we shall have the best book of its kind in ex- 

 istence. Nor, among less technical writings, 

 should one overlook such essays as those of 

 Maurice Thompson and Olive Thorne Miller. 



There have been many American hunting- 

 books ; but too often they have been very 

 worthless, even when the writers possessed 

 the necessary first hand knowledge, and the 

 rare capacity of seeing the truth. Few of 

 the old-time hunters ever tried to write of what 

 they had seen and done ; and of those who 

 made the effort fewer still succeeded. In- 

 nate refinement and the literary faculty that 

 is, the faculty of writing a thoroughly interest- 

 ing and readable book, full of valuable infor- 

 mation may exist in uneducated people ; 

 but if they do not, no amount of experience in 

 the field can supply their lack. However, we 

 have had some good works on the chase and 

 habits of big game, such as Caton's Deer and 

 Antelope of America, Van Dyke's Still-Hunter, 

 Elliott's Carolina Sports, and Dodge's Hunt- 

 ing Grounds of the Great West, besides the 

 Century Company's Sport with Rod and Gun. 



