We know of no hunter who can write with such
economy and simplicity as Mr. F. L. Puxley. Many books appear on animals and how to destroy them, and nearly all of them are bad. It is rarely that we find a book like In African Game Tracks (Witherby, 12s. 6d. net), written with dis- tinction and informed with sympathy and an intelligent understanding. Mr. Puxley saw the Matabele War of 1896 and the Boer War, and knew the bush when animals were less shy and more plentiful. His love of animals is obvious, paradoxical as it may sound, and his enthusiasm for the country and its peoples expresses itself in a regret for the industrialization of Africa. He disclaims a profound know- ledge of the habits and customs of the natives, but says enough to show that his judgments are more sanely based than those of many pretentious critics. His hunting-ground has been from Mozambique to the Nile, and if here and there his geography is not precisely accurate, over such a large area his inaccuracies are comparatively trivial.
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