312 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



We cannot congratulate the author on the figure of a Wild 

 Cat which forms the frontispiece to his volume ; nor can we 

 believe that he himself is satisfied with it. He must have seen 

 far too many Wild Cats in the course of his shooting excursions 

 in Scotland to regard this as in any sense a portrait. The 

 expression is tame to a degree, the markings are too faint, and 

 the tail is neither short enough nor thick enough to pass muster 

 for the true Wild Cat. 



Notwithstanding the shortcomings which, as we have said, 

 have caused us some disappointment, Dr. Hamilton's interesting 

 contribution towards the history of a British animal fast approach- 

 ing extinction, is one which our readers, we feel sure, will peruse 

 with both pleasure and profit. 



Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present. An account of the 

 chace of the Chamois, Red Deer, Bouquetin, Roe Deer, 

 Capercaillie, and Blackcock ; with personal adventures and 

 historical notes, and some sporting reminiscences of H.R.H. 

 the late Duke of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. By W. A. Baillie 

 Grohman. 8vo, pp. i-xv, 1-356. With numerous illustra- 

 tions and photographs from life. London : Adam and 

 Charles Black. 1896. 



Considering the large number of books which have been 

 written during the last forty years about climbing and adventure 

 in the Alps, it is curious that up to the present time so little has 

 been published upon Alpine sport. At the present moment we 

 can recall but a single volume on the subject. It has long 

 reposed on our book-shelf, and has been read more than once — 

 Charles Boner's ' Forest Creatures,' a delightful book in its 

 way, though a small one, the work of an enthusiastic sportsman 

 possessing the true instincts of a naturalist, with an eye always 

 for the picturesque. That little volume, however, deals only with 

 a small district, of what the "climber" of the present day would 

 describe as the foot-hills of the real Alps. 



Mr. Baillie Grohman is to be congratulated on the attempt 

 which he has just made to fill this void in sporting literature. It 

 is true that his book leaves almost unnoticed the very country 

 which to the alpine climber as well as to the ordinary tourist 

 possesses the greatest attraction, namely, Switzerland. But he is 



