298 



NA TURE 



[July 26, 1894 



BIG GAME SHOOTING} 



■\17HILE partridges and pheasants, and even hares 

 * ' and rabbits (in spite of the Ground Game Hill) 

 continue to increase and multiply, to the delight of the 

 ordinary sportsman, there can be no doubt that the 

 supply of what is termed " big game " is rapidly 

 and seriously diminishing year by year. In North 

 America the bison or "buffalo'' is extinct as a wild 

 animal, and the wapiti is hardly to be met with any- 

 where within reach. In Europe the steinbock has 

 entirely disappeared, and the chamois is found only in 

 cenain districts where it has been carefullv preserved. 

 Cashmere, formerly the happy hunting-ground of the 

 Indian officer, is now nearly cleared out, and it is very 

 hard work, we are told, to get one decent " head '' of 

 barasingha or ibe.\ in a whole season. As for Africa, 

 the whole of the easily accessible country has been swept 

 clean by the host of" big game" shooters, and it is only 



authority upon the game of the Caucasus and Western 

 America. The names of Baker, Oswell. Jackson, Pike, and 

 Selous are well known to sportsmen all over the world as 

 those of ardent and intrepid hunters of the past and pre- 

 sent generation. In thepresont work they have all made 

 excellent contributions to the common stock of know- 

 ledge on the subject ; but, as is usually the case where 

 five or six people join together in writing one book, there 

 is perhaps a little want of a uniform system in the com- 

 bined product. We may even venture to hint that a 

 little judicious compression and excision might have 

 combined the two volumes into one. On the whole, 

 however, this perhaps would not have been altogether 

 desirable ; it might laave caused the omission of some ol 

 the excellent illustrations which pervade the two volumes, 

 and possibly have interfered with the very plain and 

 legible print now before our eyes. 



The first volume of " Big Game Shooting" opens with 

 an essay by Mr. Phillipps-WoUey on the general prin- 



/ 





Fig. I, — Game animals in British East Africa. 



by penetrating into such distant places as the swamps of 

 the Luapula, or the torrid deserts of Lake Rudolph, that 

 the larger mammals, which formerly populated its whole 

 surface, can be " got at " in any numbers. Such being 

 the case, it was quite time that an account of what has 

 been for many years one of the great national sports of 

 the British race should be taken in hand. It will help 

 the adventurous spirits of the present generation to share 

 more easily in a pastime that cannot last much longer, 

 and, at the same time, hand down to future ages a record 

 of what were the delights and dangers of slaughtering 

 the extinct mammals of the preceding era. 



Of the high qualifications of the editor and those who 

 have assisted him in the present work, there can be no 

 doubt whatever. Mr. Phillipps-Wolley is a recognised 



by Sif 

 and t ' 



NO. 



...1 (_..., ,:„.) 



I 29 1, VOL. 50] 



Wollry. With contribution! 



Jackkon, W.Trburton I'ikc, 



I wo vols. (London; l.ong- 



I ciples of the subject. No apology, we agree with him, 



is required for " Big Game Shooting." Man from his 



earliest origin has been a hunting animal. Even in llic 



most highly civilised races the love o( wild sport alVeci;. 



some of the most highly gifted and intelligent of the 



race, and gives exercise to those masculine virtues which 



in these days it is so necessary to encourage. The best 



hunters, moreover, have done much for geography and 



much for science, although it may be the mere love of 



hunting that has originally prompted ihcm in their ex- 



I peditions. In Africa, as Mr. Phillipps-WoUcy well puts 



I it, hunting and exploration have certainly gone hand in 



hand ; in America, it was the hunter who first explored 



; and settled the great West ; while in India, not the 



I least amongst those latent powers which enable us to 



i govern our Asiatic fellow-subjects, is the " respect won 



by generations of English hunters from the native 



shikaris and hillsmen." 



Agreeing fully with the author in his vindication of the 



