LIFE OF C. ST. JOHN 



he shot, never taking life merely for the wantonness of killing. 

 But fishing and shooting were always subordinate to his ardour 

 for observing the habits of the wild creatures which he pos- 

 sessed so many opportunities of noting. He insisted on seeing 

 with his own eyes, and never cared to take facts on hearsay. 

 Enthusiastic, cautious, and diligent, he was the model of a 

 zoologist ; country pursuits and love of the country almost 

 amounting with him to a passion. St. John's style is plain 

 and straightforward, frequently rising to a poetical appreciation 

 of scenery, and redolent of heather scents and the freshness of 

 the mountain breeze. Imagination is strictly subordinated to 

 sober details of what he actually saw, and heard, and did 

 There is no attempt to rise to gorgeous or even fine writing, 

 and this is the reason why his books still prove so fascinating. 

 Without either eccentricities of thought or of language, they tell 

 their own tale, and appeal strongly to all who sympathise with 

 nature and sport. Therefore they never become antiquated, or 

 disgust readers with the affectations and sporting jargon of a 

 bygone day. When Walton and White of Selborne are for- 

 gotten, then, and then only, will the world tire of St. John. 

 Few authors in his own peculiar range of sport and natural 

 history combined can vie with him ; few indeed have surpassed 

 him. It is believed that many lovers of nature who have 

 grown up since the early editions of the Highland Sports were 

 published will be as delighted to make St. John's acquaintance 

 as were their fathers, to whom his experiences of the sport to 

 be obtained in Scotland came like a revelation. 



St. John's insight into animal life was as keen as that of 

 Jefferies, but wider, more particular and exact. Nature was as 

 dear to him as to Thoreau ; but St. John's love of sport drew him 

 nearer to the birds and beasts of his native land. Perhaps the late 

 Mr. J. Colquhoun most resembled him in united enthusiasm for 

 sport and nature and skill in writing on these subjects; butSt John 

 far excels him in the accuracy of his knowledge and the extent 

 of his observations on animals, their habits and traits. An 

 untimely death removed one who would probably have largely 

 increased sportsmen's sympathy and acquaintance with their 

 quarry, and might have considerably widened the domain of 

 the sciences which preside over the birds and animals of his 

 adopted country. Besides the Highland Sports, St. John has 



