2974 Tue ZooLocist—Marcu, 1872. 
“drains” or on the “muds” until he has disposed of his wares at a 
“ruinous sacrifice.” I observe that Mr. Harting airily “hints” to 
his readers the desirability of taking a punt: he does not actually 
recommend this: he only coyly and incidentally mentions it, thus—_ 
“We do not here dilate upon the most desirable form of punt, 
because unless you take your own you must be content with 
what you can get.” This is incontrovertible; but I recommend 
the reader who takes Mr. Harting’s “hints” not to hesitate about 
carrying his own punt, and inverting over the ¢mpedimenta as soon 
as they are safely deposited on the “muds.” I will not dwell on 
Mr. Harting’s instructions to “ hold straight” (p. 10); “to rest our 
left arm and head on the fore deck” (p. 12); to keep our “ gun 
pointing a-head in front of us” (p. 12); to get “ our pipe well filled 
and lit”: I only mention these things en passant, just as I may 
point to the wooden and Winklean sea, the wooden and Winklean 
birds, and wooden and Winklean figure of himself, his shooting coat, 
cap, trowsers, stockings and boots, as proofs of my assertion that 
Mr. Harting has not done himself justice. And yet, and yet, there 
is a possibility that the mention of these trifles may possess another 
teaching. The amusing American traveller who took such pains 
to describe the silver fork which he observed at every Britisher’s 
table, as “ four-pronged,” “ flattened,” “spoonlike,” “ugly,” “ use- 
less,” “senseless”—this pleasantly satirical and most instructive 
writer has revealed to us a fact of which we had previously no 
conception, namely, that he himself was unfamiliar with the 
implement he so graphically describes as highly objectionable: 
I cannot doubt its existence in the U.S., but I infer that it had 
not reached the table of our instructor or the tables of those 
with whom he interchanged the amenities of social intercourse. 
Possibly Mr. Harting’s very minute instructions about “ holding 
straight,” “pointing your gun forward in front of you,” &c., &c., 
may lead to an inference that he would by no means desire to 
convey. But I must not take leave of Mr. Harting with this 
superficial and one-sided view of his labours; he has good sterling 
metal in him, as the following quotations will abundantly prove: 
in his own subject, Ornithology, he stands his ground well and 
firmly—I gladly take off my hat to him, and sit attentive as at the 
feet of a Gamaliel: it is only on the “muds,” hampered by the 
impedimenta, with his head on the fore deck of his punt, and his 
gun pointing forward in front of him, that I should religiously 
