8 SPORT IN EUROPE | 



will be amused with the Baron de Tuvll's account of a quaint Dutch i 



I 

 method of catching pike, as well as with Mr. Hulme Beaman's sketch ' 



of Turkish sea fishing. Ibex stalking and the Sunday wolf-battue 



in Portugal, a goose-shoot near Seville and another in Novgorod, 



seal-shooting in the Cattegat, and coot-driving in the Pontine marshes, ^ 



are all somewhat novel ; while there are many curious anecdotes like ' 



those of the Turkish sportsman who used to snap his snipe on sight - 



of their eyes, and his countrymen who surprise wild bustards with their 



wings frozen and drive them in this helpless state straight to market. 



A rapid review of the principal sporting animals of Europe will 

 show us how thoroughly the wide results of preservation are established 

 in many parts of the Continent. It is doubtful, however, whether 

 the basis of this protection could have afforded much useful material 

 for the conference that recently met at the Foreign Office with the 

 object of discussing measures for the protection of African big game. 

 The conditions of the more southern continent are so different, the 

 uninhabited tracts so vast, the native question so important. The 

 giraffe, it is true, is in a measure protected by the fact of the dreaded 

 tse-tse precluding its pursuit on horseback over a considerable area i 

 of its range ; but it is doubtful whether, save in the way of vast 

 natural reserves, much can be done for the eland and other threatened | 

 antelopes. j 



The following is a synopsis of the chief areas of distribution of some j 

 of the most interesting beasts and birds dealt with in these pages : — 



If we except the giant ollen of the Caucasus, as lying outside \ 

 Europe proper, the finest red deer would seem to come from Rou- , 



