466 



NATURE 



[October 13, 19 10 



proved remarkably successful; Mr. Johnson reports 

 that the rainfall for the ten years' records at Kimber- 

 lev, Kronstad, and Bloemfontein are respectively 2o"4, 

 271, and 252 inches; so the climate would not be 

 regarded as arid in Australia, where wheat cultivation 

 has long been undertaken in areas with a rainfall of 

 as low as fourteen inches. Most of the rain in South 

 Africa falls in the six summer months, and its amount 

 is sufficient to justify Mr. Johnson's confidence as to 

 the future agricultural prosperity of the State. 



J. W. G. 



SPORT ON THE MOORS AND BROADS.' 



SO far as I am aware, Messrs. Malcolm and 

 Maxwell are the first to present the public with 

 a concise, authentic, and at the same time highly 

 interesting account of the rise and expansion of 

 modern grouse-shooting in the North- a sport which 



connection between grouse and heather, and grouse 

 disease. At one time it was hoped that the number 

 of grouse on a moor might be largely augmented by 

 suitable treatment, but it is now ascertained that 

 there is a limit to this. In view of the prospect of a 

 second edition, Mr. Malcolm's attention may be 

 directed to a couple of obvious grammatical errors 

 on the latter part of the second page. 



The last six chapters are from the pen of Captain 

 Maxwell, who discourses pleasantly on ancient and 

 modern grouse-shooting, with a couple of chapters 

 devoted to blackcock and ptarmigan. In urging the 

 need for an extension of the close season in the case 

 of blackcock, the author ought to enlist the support 

 and sympathy of true sportsmen, since it is a crying 

 shame that half-fledged " cheapers " should, as is so 

 often the case, be shot in August. It is also satisfac- 

 tory to find Captain Maxwell remarking that grouse- 

 driving has resulted in a more or less indifference to 

 natural history and wood-craft on the part of the 



" Life and Spo 



the Norfolk Eroads, 



they rightly declare to have been rendered accessible 

 to English sportsmen as a whole by the development 

 of railways. In our own days the steadily increasing 

 demand for well-stocked moors produced by these 

 means has given rise to great improvements in the 

 care and cult of the moors, themselves coupled with a 

 large extension of the area devoted to grouse ; and this, 

 in turn, has added very considerably to the financial 

 prosperity of many parts of North Britain. How enor- 

 mous is the value' of Scottish and Yorkshire moors is 

 told in the second chapter of the volume by Mr. 

 Malcolm, who also discourses, with the confidence of 

 an authority, on the management of moors, the 



1 "Grouse and Grouse Moors." Ey George Malcolm and Aymcr Max- 

 well. Illustrated Ky Charles Whympcr. Pp. viii + 286. (London : A. and 

 C. Black, 1910). Price ys. M. net. 



" Life and Sport on the Norfolk Broads in the Golden Days." By Oliver 

 G. Ready. Pp. xvi.+249. (London: T. Werner Laurie, n.d.) Price 

 IS. 6d. I 



modern sportsman, who thereby falls far behind his 

 grandfather, to whom such knowledge was essential. 



In commending the united efforts of the two authors. 

 I must not omit a word of praise for the i6 coloured 

 icproductions of sketches of Scottish game-birds and 

 scenery, by Mr. C. Whymper, which add so greatly 

 to the attraction of the volume. 



Mr. Ready, the author of the second volume men- 

 tioned above, is a born "Broadsman," having been 

 brought up in a rectory in the heart of the broad- 

 country, where forty "years ago no railway had 

 penetrated, while a visit to Norwich entailed an 

 eighteen-mile journey by coach. Those early days 

 of the author's life can be recalled only in memory, 

 for the penetration of the district by the railway has 

 altered its primitive character in many ways, although 

 the charm of the more secluded portions of the Broads 

 cannot, fortunately, be destroyed. 



NO. 



2137, VOL. 84] 



