REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 185 



diversified a treat to every naturalist and sportsman that his volume 

 ought to sell like the proverbial hot cakes. We shall, in future, judge 

 the finish of a Shanghai houseboat by the presence or absence of this 

 most enjoyable volume. There is always a niche somewhere or other 

 for books on all houseboats worthy the name. This must find a place 

 in it. 



Possibly a Shanghai sportsman, who begins reading at the first 

 chapter, which deals with snipe-shooting, may find little that is new, 

 so accustomed is he to dealing with long-bills ; and the duck-flighting, 

 too, may be familiar. But once through these two, he will find himself 

 launched on a succession of delightful essays just such as appeal at 

 once to the naturalist and sportsman combined. He may accompany 

 the author in quest of bear, bring down a specimen sixty-two inches 

 from tip to tip, and weighing from three to four hundred pounds, or 

 he may invade the Imperial Hunting Grounds and find the glorious 

 Reeves pheasant, the pucras pheasant, gorals, roebuck, spotted deer, 

 leopards "positively plentiful," and even tigers. That was before 

 the domain was opened to the farmer. What it is like to-day we 

 cannot say. 



Then comes a change of scene ; the pretty little Yangtze River 

 Deer is introduced to us, and we make the acquaintance of that 

 hatefully abominable phrase — "cold storage." Pheasants find their 

 proper place in the picture, and what the writer says of them and 

 other birds and animals, when he permits the naturalist in him to 

 take the chair, is at once full of interest and quite reliable. In some 

 cases one envies the good fortune which at times accompanied our 

 author from start to finish, enabling him to return with a bag so 

 mixed as to run from quail to pheasant, from pheasant to bustard, 

 and from bustard to leopard. On one occasion we see him bring 

 down a 300 lbs. ram, (Ovis jubata) ; on another occasion it is wild 

 boar, and then geese, in connexion with which is mentioned Mr. 

 Gibson's specimen of 13^ lbs., probably a world's record. 



One would like to put a question or two here and there. Is it 

 not a habit of snipe to get on to dry ground when well fed ? We 

 have put them up from ground as dry as a bone, and ranging in 

 height from the Shanghai plain to the tops of Japanese hills, 3,000 ft. 

 up. Are the suggested rates of bird flight intended as maxima? In 

 the very admirable chapter, "Stray Shots" ducks are credited with a 

 pace up to 70 miles an hour, and teal up to 80. We have seen far 

 higher estimates given, especially when ducks are planing down from 

 migration heights to rest and feed. And one more query. Our author 

 speaks of the "solid circling horns" of the rams he saw, and doubtless 

 there was a good deal of solidity about them and behind them, but 



