NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 199 



There are some nice full-page illustrations, amongst which 

 may be specially noticed " The Buck Gates in Thoresby Park, 

 Notts," and "The Great Oak in Spetchley Park, Worcester- 

 shire," while as vignettes to some of the chapters we have 

 examples of different styles of deer-fence as adopted in different 

 parks. This must always be a matter of taste, but in our 

 opinion nothing looks better, or harmonises more with the land- 

 scape, than the old-fashioned oak-paling, covered with lichens and 

 mellowed with age. Mr. Whitaker is quite right in his assertion 

 that for sylvan beauty and variety of timber, few landscapes can 

 compare with an English deer-park. 



Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great Game of the World ; 

 being a Record for the use of Sportsmen and Naturalists. 

 By Kowland Waed. 4to, pp. 264, with Illustrations. 

 London : published by the Author. 1892. 



It has become very much the fashion of late years to organise 

 parties for big-game shooting in Africa, and although one cannot 

 but deplore the wholesale and unnecessary destruction of many 

 fine desert forms which are sacrificed to the greed of unreasonable 

 sportsmen, we must, on the other hand, admit that many new 

 species would probably not have been made known but for their 

 acquisition by adventurous Englishmen. 



Hence, when we read of the arduous journeys that have 

 been undertaken, and the hardships that have been undergone, 

 and the risks to human life that have been incurred in the 

 pursuit of big-game, we cannot but excuse the pride with which 

 a successful hunter exhibits some splendid head and horns, 

 or other trophy which has been secured by his own prowess. 

 This fashion in sport has naturally created a spirit of rivalry, 

 and it is now-a-days the ambition of every hunter of big-game to 

 eclipse his brother sportsmen in the size, weight, and horn- 

 measurements of the trophies he brings home. Under these 

 circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that, owing to the want 

 of proper standards of comparison, much difference of opinion 

 should prevail about "record" heads. What has long been 

 wanting is a handbook to the big-game not only of Africa, but of 

 other continents, giving precise and authoritative information 



