CATS GREAT AND SMALL 135 



ment is greater, and a comparison of the difficulties makes shooting 

 in most cases appear as a boy's sport. The efficiency of the modern 

 rifle greatly reduces the chance of failure, and consequently places 

 the balance of chance too much in the sportsman's hands, while 

 the difficulties of photography are lessened almost yearly by the 

 invention of better and more simple devices, with the result that 

 pictures which hitherto were practically unobtainable are to-day 

 becoming common. It will be but a few years before we shall see 

 clubs and societies formed for the advancement of natural history 

 photography ; in fact, an important and wide-spreading one is now 

 being organized, and before the year is past it will probably be an 

 accomplished fact." 



It is obvious, as a writer in Country Life remarks, that "the 

 photographer of big game must acquire a more patient and detailed 

 knowledge than the ordinary hunter. He must get much nearer, 

 as photography at the outside range of a modern gun would be 

 out of question. It is in the struggle to get close that the danger 

 arises." 



In his Camera Adventures in the African Wilds Mr. Dugmore 

 has pictured for us wild beasts of many kinds in their own homes, 

 leading their own remarkable lives, snapped, as it were, whilst in the 

 full enjoyment of unfettered liberty. 



One cannot but admire the enthusiasm and stalking of this clever 

 American naturalist, and I must candidly admit I have a much 

 warmer appreciation for his bloodless records of the chase than 

 valuable trophies which at best only testify to the sacrifice of life. 

 It is apparent both from Mr. Dugmore's work, and also the graphic 

 accounts sent home by the ex-President of the United States, that 

 there still exists in Africa a tremendous population of wild beasts. 

 It must not be overlooked, however, in giving consideration to this 

 matter of hunting, that we owe practically all our knowledge of big 

 game to men like Gordon Gumming, Selous, Gambier Bolton and 

 others, and it is only fair to recognize- the interesting narratives they 

 have given us of the wild creatures they have encountered during 

 their protracted and oftentimes perilous wanderings. 



Perhaps the greatest adventure chronicled by Mr. Dugmore was 

 the photographing of Lions at night by flashlight. The intrepid 

 photographer was hidden inside a thorn boma with a dead Zebra 

 laid as a bait for the forest monarch just outside. Inside the hiding- 

 place Mr. Dugmore waited for the King of Wild Beasts to approach. 



