HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
numerous complaints, of which the Government 
were obliged to take serious notice. Thus Mr. 
Davies found himself in the position of all others 
most suited to his tastes, and, being assisted in 
every way by the authorities, had a unique exper- 
ience which probably in no other way could have 
fallen to his lot. Although he kept a journal, in 
which he entered notes of the various wild animals 
killed by him — not only tigers, but leopards, bears, 
hyaenas, wild boar, sambur, axis-deer, and, in 
fact, most, if not all, of the big game to be found 
in the Bombay Presidency — it appears that, being 
less skilful with his pen than with his rifle, he did 
not feel equal to writing a book which would em- 
body his long experiences as a sportsman. Hence' 
we are indebted to his friend, Mr. C. E. Goulds- 
bury, for the volume that is now before us. In 
his capacity as editor, though he styles himself 
author, he tells us that the work has been com- 
piled from notes and stories furnished by Mr. 
Davies, and that he has endeavoured to construct 
an autobiographical narrative that has necessitated 
his writing' throughout in the first person singular. 
This is perhaps as well, for a personal narrative 
always carries greater conviction of the truth of 
the adventures related than if told second-hand by 
one who had no part in them. We have only to 
bear in mind that the author is Mr. Davies and 
not Mr. Gouldsbury. To the latter, however, 
praise is due for the skilful manner in which he 
has utilised the material placed at his disposal. 
To relate another's story, as he himself remarks, 
is naturally more difficult than to tell one's own; 
but in this case Mr. Davies's accounts of his 
adventures are so full, and his descriptions of the 
appearance and habits of the various wild animals 
he encountered are given in such detail that the 
editor's task has been comparatively an easy one. 
The result is a very entertaining book, and open- 
ing it where we will, and in spite of all that has 
been written about Indian game by other sports- 
men, we find Mr. Davies's stories so graphically 
told as to be extremely diverting. 
Although by the terms of his appointment Mr. 
Davies was bound to make tigers and leopards the 
chief object of pursuit (p. 71), he did not of course 
neglect to take chances of slaying other big game 
animals whenever he happened to- come across 
them, or was unexpectedly attacked by them. But 
as to these the subject may be passed lightly over, 
for we may take it that most readers will be more 
concerned to know what was the outcome of ap- 
pointing an official tiger-slayer. The author's 
experiences date back to 1888. In the early part 
of that year he accompanied two- friends on a 
shooting trip to the Central Provinces. In those 
days that part of India had not been much shot 
over, and the party had excellent sport in the 
Chandu district, though, unfortunately, the local 
forest officer was killed by a buffalo. "Of the 
eleven tigers we bagged, says Mr. Davies, "one 
which fell to my rifle measured 10ft. 2in. , the 
record so far as my own shooting is concerned, 
yet strangely enough, it gave me less trouble to 
secure than many considerably smaller ones. . . . 
He was a very old tiger, light in colour, and much 
scarred about the. face, possibly from wounds re- 
ceived in combat with others of his kind or in 
battle with a boar." The aA T erage length of a 
tiger, according to Mr. Davies, is 9ft. 6in., and he 
adds that in measuring a tiger "care should be- 
taken that the measurement is in a straight line 
from nose to tip of tail, and not round the curves 
as measurements are taken in Bengal" (p. 491. 
Writing of sport as it was in India five-arid-twenty 
or thirty years ago, the author says : — 
"I regret now that I did not keep an exact 
record of the number of tigers I have slain. As 
tiger-slayer to the Bombay Government, how- 
ever, I had to submit a weekly return of tigers 
killed, and during my term of office the figure.-, 
so' far as I remember, reached about 200. These 
did not include the number I killed before being- 
appointed to that office, or during- any period 
of leave. I may safely say, therefore, that 
the numbers of tigers I have shot 1 cannot be 
much under 300 in all. 
"My biggest bag for one year in Khandesh 
was thirty-one, and in one week six. At one 
time, indeed, I remember being almost tired 
of shooting- tigers, they were so plentiful, and in 
SO' many cases they were shot without any 
greater effort on my part than holding the rifle 
straight." 
But as he generally shot on foot, although 
sometimes from a tree, or machan, but never from 
the back of an elephant, due credit must be allowed 
for possession of that courage and nerve without 
which, in front of an angry tiger, no rifle can be 
expected to be held very straight. 
It may be well imagined that a man who has 
slain nearly 300 tigers in the course of his life, to 
say nothing- of leopards, bears, buffalo, and other 
dangerous Indian game, must have had an almost 
unique experience of jungle life well worth record- 
ing; and such we think will be the verdict of those 
who peruse his book. 
* Davies.— Tiger-slayer by Order. By Digby Davies. lace 
Bombay Police. Edited by C. E. Gouldsbury, late Indian 
Police. With numerous illustrations. Svo.. pp. _!■ 
London: Chapman and Hall. 
SHOOTING HIPPOPOTAMUS WITH 
SHOTGUN. 
Our contemporary, "The Field," has the fol- 
lowing very interesting letter : — 
Sir, — The following occurrence, which I im- 
agine to be almost unique, may possibly be of 
interest to some of your readers. About ten days 
ago (i.e., in September, 1915) a party of four. 
