6 DECEMBER 1930, Page 47

Some entirely charming coloured pictures of game and other birds

and of deer, by Philip Rickman and Frank Wallace, give grace to the very businesslike and even dogmatic advice set forth by Mr. Pollard in The Gun-room Guide (Eyre and Spottiswoodc, 63s.). He is one of the ultimate authorities on the subject of guns and game ; and his one weakness is superiority. He unnecessarily presumes, for example, that few sportsmen clean their own guns, but depute the work to henchmen. It is on the contrary the pride of many sportsmen to be self-sufficient ; and many of them actively enjoy this menial work, if so it must be called. Apart from this foible he writes very well, concentrates on essentials and severely prunes all superfluities. The succinct account of the varieties of pheasant is admirable natural history, and he is sane, almost humanitarian, on the subject of certain vermin, notably otters. On a very different subject, more germane to

his title, his plain and unqualified verdict on the vexed question of the best length for a gun will rejoice scores of sportsmen especially the elders, and resolve vexatious doubts. It may be taken as proven that five inches of the old thirty-inch barrel are superfluous. Anyone who is choosing a gun could not have a better guide than Mr. Pollard ; and seldom was good practical forthright advice tendered in a handsomer volume.