BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA. 
71 
to any one except, perhaps, the hunter himself. But the photo- 
graph of a stag browsing in his native glen, of a woodcock 
crouched upon her nest, or a heron intently fishing in some 
reedy pool, unsuspicious that a camera has been focussed upon 
it, forms a vivid memorandum whereby other eyes than those of 
the artist can realise the scene and share the pleasure. 
What can be more sportive or sportsmanlike, or more ex- 
citing and enjoyable, than the search of a botanist for some 
rare plant, with the constant surprises that greet his observant 
eye, and the eager watch and hope for others ? The naturalist 
needs no gun for his enjoyment, and only to a small extent for 
his work. As he ranges the woods with opera-glass, note-book 
and collecting-boxes, his hours are full of amusement, his facul- 
ties are alert, and his mind is as pleasantly occupied as if he 
must kill everything he sees in order to satisfy the savagery left 
in him from the childhood of the race, or the more artificial and 
meaner feeling of rivalry with some other sportsman who has 
made a big bag. 
These are only hints or suggestions of the enjoyment re- 
served for him who leaves his gun at home ; and he will find 
that instead of losing he has gained, for if really he be the true 
“ sportsman ” he vaunts himself, he cannot but feel a twinge of 
shame whenever some innocent creature yields its life in agony, 
• that he may experience a momentary thrill of savage triumph. 
To-day he argues or crushes down these troublesome thoughts 
of self-reproach and sympathy ; but having laid aside his gun, 
he will by and by come to perceive that it is better to let his 
nobler instincts prevail, and will conclude that the truest sports- 
man is he that is true to himself. 
Ernest Ingersoll. 
BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA.* 
Mr. J. I.ockwood Kipling writes sympathetically and interestingly about the 
common animals of India and their treatment by the natives. In the introductory 
chapter the author attempts to compare the East and the West as regards their 
treatment of animals. The verdict seems to be given in favour of the West, even 
though in the East religion commands humanity to be more humane towards the 
brute creation. But this is judging the East by a European standard, which is 
always dangerous. Mr. Kipling drops the judge after the first chapter, and 
proceeds to give us, in pleasantly written narrative, the results of many years’ 
careful observation of animal life in India. The great interest of the subject — 
an interest which the author makes the most of in selecting for treatment chiefly 
the domestic animals of India— lies in this, that in India, beast and man are 
related in a peculiar and intimate manner, that has no counterpart in Europe. 
Mr. Kipling’s extensive experience enables him to bring home this relation to his 
readers, and we learn how much such humble creatures as the sparrow and the 
* Beast and Man in India : a popular sketch of Indian Animals in their relations 
with the People, by J. Lockwood Kipling, C.I.E., with illustrations. Macmillan 
and Co., 8vo, pp. 359. Price 7s. 6d. 
