No. 400.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 319 
The Trail of the Sandhill Stag. — We confess to a feeling of 
disappointment on laying down Zhe Trail of the Sandhill Stag, by 
Ernest Seton-Thompson. If it had been the first book by that author 
which had come to our notice, the feeling would probably have been 
one of interest and pleasure, but the standard set in Wild Animais 
J Have Known was so high that the present story, measured by it, 
fails to answer our expectations. For such of our readers as have 
not yet made the acquaintance of. Mr. Seton-Thompson's style, the 
remedy against a similar disappointmént is simple ; let them begin 
with the story of the Sandhill Stag and then pass to the earlier and 
more fascinating work. In the story at present under consideration, 
as in his earlier stories, the author has attempted to tell the life story 
of a species by painting the portrait of an individual who possesses 
to an extraordinary degree the characteristics of his kind. In 
the present instance the subject is a black-tailed deer, a buck of 
marvellous size, crowned with an enormous pair of antlers. A boy, 
in whom the old barbarian instinct of the chase is overpowering, 
catches sight of the beautiful creature and pursues him on various 
occasions. Finally, after a long three days' chase over the snow, the 
stag, after seeing his mate murdered by one of the lad's more callous 
companions, is at last, and in spite of all stratagems, hunted to his 
lair, and comes face to face with his pursuer. The lad, however, is 
touched by the expression of nobility in the creature's gaze; his 
better nature asserts itself, and hunter and his intended victim part 
with an increase of mutual respect. 
The moral of the story is obvious, perhaps too obvious. The serv- 
ice which the author's earlier work has performed in teaching love 
and sympathy for animals has undoubtedly been enormous, but it was 
done by revealing in an unusual degree the secrets of the creatures' 
lives. The reader shared their pleasures and anxieties, and uncon- 
Sciously became their friend. In this later tale the boy's feelings 
rather than the stag's are portrayed. 
. If the story is a little less effective, the illustrations are as charm- 
ing as ever, and the workmanship of the book itself reflects unusual 
credit on the designer and the publisher. 
It is the hope of all who are watching Mr. Seton-Thompson's 
work that he may be able to reap, in the field which Mr. Hamilton 
Gibson tilled so faithfully, a splendid harvest. There is no more 
lSeton-Thompson, Ernest. The Trail of the Sandhill Stag. With sixty 
drawings in black and white and a frontispiece in color. New York, Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, 1899. 93 pp. Price $1.50. 
