THE RECREATIONS OF NATURALISTS.*
NEARLY three centuries ago it was remarked by Richard Brathwait in his scarce work, The English Gentleman (1633), that recreations might be of two kinds : those which give health and strength to the body, as hunting, hawking, and the like ; and those which refresh and stimulate the mind, as when recourse is had to the use of books. The same compari- son between exercises of the mind and exercises of the body is dwelt upon by the unknown author of The Institucion of a Gentleman (1555), who, in his turn, quotes Marcus Tullius Cicero in support of his views. The expression of these respectable opinions serves Mr. Harting as an introduction to the volume of collected essays and articles which he has called Recreations of a Naturalist. The many years during which he has occupied the position of secretary to the Linnean Society and natural history editor of the Field have been well spent. His fondness for sport, particularly falconry and wildfowling, is combined with a great love of hunting • (I) Recreations of a Naturalist. By James Edmund Harting. With 81 Illustrations. London : T. Fisher Unvrin. [15s. net.]—(2) Sporting Trips of a Subaltern. By Captain B. R. M. Glossop. With Photos taken in the Field and from the Author's Collection of Heads. London : Harper and Brothers. [10s. 6c1.3 —(3) The Wild Flowers of Selborne, and other Papers. By John Vaughan, M.A., Rector of Droxford and Hon. Canon of Winchester. London John Lane. [5s.1—(4) The Birds of the Isle of Man. By P.O. Ralfe, Edinburgh David Douglas. 1_18s. net.]—(5) The British Woodlice. By Wil- fred Mark Webb, F.L.S., and Charles Sillem. With 25 Plates and 59 Figures in the text. London Duckworth and Co. [6s. net.]—(6) Notes front Nature's Garden. By Frances A. Bardswell. With 34 Illustrations from Photographs. London : Longmans and Co. [62. 64. net.] up matters connected therewith in ancient authors. He has difficulty in resting until he has run his gnarly to ground. Mr. Harting is an antiquarian among sportsmen, and a sportsman among naturalists. This happy combination makes it almost needless to add that the reader who shares his tastes will find plenty to amuse him in these forty essays, some of which he may already have read in the Field. The first chapter, as may be supposed by those who know Mr. Harting's inclinations, is in praise of hawking. There is no lack of variety in the subjects to which he has turned his attention. "The Wheatear on the South Downs" deals with the traps by which shepherds used to supply the tables of epicures with these delicious little birds. There are other articles on catching wood-pigeons, on duck decoys of the seventeenth century, and on cranes, which figured in the bills- of-fare of our forefathers at Christmas-time until the sixteenth century. Sport is dealt with in "Blackcock Shooting," "Twenty Years' Snipe Shooting," and " Pa.gham Harbour, Past and Present." That paradise of the wild-fowler is now reclaimed ; and turnips cover the old feeding-grounds of wild duck and goose, widgeon and brent, curlew and knot. Mr. Harting gives an astonishing bag made at the end of August, 1867, with a 12-bore shoulder gun, in which eighty- seven head and eighteen different species appear. Ornithology is represented by chapters on "Birds and Lighthouses," " The Largest Birds that Fly," three articles on woodcocks, and a particularly curious one showing that small birds when migrating are occasionally carried on the backs of large ones. Botany is touched on in papers on the Irish shamrock, mistletoe as food for birds, and "Fishes Trapped by Bladderwort." We must be satisfied here merely to indicate the nature of the subjects that are dealt with. There is a certain dryness about Mr. Harting's style of writing, and for this reason he is at his best when he has learning to impart, and writes, for instance, on the horse and its historians, the oldest book on fishing, deer-leaps, or snakes swallowing their young. He is less successful in attempting what we may call descriptive writing, as, for instance, in the articles entitled "A Marsh Walk in May" and "A Wet Day on the Hill." Volumes of collected articles from periodicals often suffer from two defects,—firstly, from repetition, and, secondly, from the temptation to reprint articles that are antiquated. There is a particularly interesting essay on the origin of the domestic cat, in which Mr. Harting shows that our word "puss" is the same as the ancient Egyptian " pasht." " But many of the arguments therein will be found restated in almost the same words in the following paper on hunting with cheetahs. The article on birds in Kensington Gardens must have been written many years ago, though it contains no state; ment to that effect. But any one who seeks information on the ornithology of London at the present day, and refers to it, will be grievously misled on several points. So, also, an article on the disappearance of kites in Great Britain lacks any reference to the present status of that noble bird in the British avifauna, That the cuckoo does not reach our shores before April is a favourite theme of Mr. Harting, and a chapter devoted to "March Cuckoos" collects the negative evidence in support of this view. It is-somewhat amusing, however, to find at the end of the chapter evidence from a gentleman in Dorset, and from so sound a naturalist as Mr. J. G. Millais in Sussex, that in 1905 the cuckoo was heard in both those counties on the last day of March. A very little trouble in recasting or omitting parts of the volume might have remedied the defects we have mentioned. We must take leave of this book by recom- mending it to our readers, and by referring to one more article which contains much antiquarian learning on swan- neries and the old custom of "swan upping" (for the purpose of marking the birds' bills), which still survives on the Thames. Those who wish to know what a swan-mark is like will find drawings in this book, which contains, besides, numerous other illustrations. There is now to be seen in the museum of the Record Office a curious roll of swan-marks of the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge at the end of the fifteenth century: Mr. Harting is doubtless acquainted with it, though he does not mention it.
The next volume before us, Sporting Trips of a Subaltern, deals with the recreations of one who is a sportsman of the
best sort, but not much of a naturalist. Captain Glossop regards the animal world from the point of view of a Nimrod; and since the happy day in January, 1895, when he began his
career in the Nepal Terai he has had more varied and exciting experience than most big-game shooters enjoy.. His book is illustrated with photographs of the beads he has collected. He is A trophy hunter who rarely pulls the trigger on anything that is not well worth securing, and who detests butchery and extermination. From the Indian jungle he transports us to an Indian- hill Station, said the tome of the "Himalayan chamois" or goral, the serow, and the tahr. Captain Glossop spells them " gUral" and "thar," and he may be right. We have, however, sometimes found it almost impossible to identify the animal be is writing about, owing to his use of strange native or local names. Had he been more of a naturalist, he might easily have added the recognised or scientific name. From pig- sticking and buck-shooting Captain Glossop turned to bigger game,' and undertook an expedition to Somaliland, where, besides a variety of antelopes, he secured on one day three lions before breakfast, and narrowly escaped being trampled on by a furious rhinoceros. All these and many other thrilling adventures are told with the straightforward modesty of the British soldier. But we should give our readers an imperfect description of the book if we did not say that the author calls the tiger "Mr. Stripes." If he is a big beast, he is a "whacker." Friends are called "pals," and when the hunter ' is thirsty, his thirst • "would have fetched a big price in some places." These are very trifling defects in a book of this sort, and they will not prevent it being read with enjoyment by other sportsmen. The last sporting trip was to Northern Nigeria, to which Captain Glossop went as a volun- teer on military duty. He found an abundance' of game, and managed to find time also to secure some fairly good beasts in spite of the heavy bush and detestable climate. - Our next naturalist is Canon Vaughan, whose recreation is botany, the most absorbing and the most harmless of all pursuits. The title which he has chosen hardly describes this very charming little book. The Wild Flowers of Selborne is a name which only indicates the subject of one of the magazine articles that are here reprinted in a volume. It is natural that a Canon of Winchester should have a preference for the flora of Hampshire, and that passages in Gilbert White's letters should suggest texts for discursive essayson wild fruits and flowers, pot-herbs and the use of simples, the disappearance of rare plants, and additions to our native flora, poisonous plants, and. the flora of old walls. These subjects are treated in a very pleasant manner. It is, we think, a misfortune that Latin names are not always (though they are generally) added in parenthesis or in a footnote. It is natural also that the Rector of Droxford should have something to say about Izaak Walton, who lived some little time there. Two other papers deal with the marshes of Essex, and the old botanists Turner, Gerarde, and Ray, who botanised in that county. We cannot but feel that it would have been better to restrict the volume to botany and herbalists. Certain papers at the end on the French prisoners at Portchester, and Jane Austen at Lyme, seem out of place and incongruous when the reader reaches them. The danger of repetition which we referred to above when articles from periodicals are reprinted is mentioned by the author in his preface. 'But be has chosen to reprint his writings in their original form. They make 'a pretty little volume.
There cannot be a pleasanter recreation for a naturalist than to write a book on the birds of a 'county or an island. Mr. Ralfe is not only a competent ornithologist, but also a Manxman, and his work on The Birds of the Isle of Man is all that could be desired. A thorough acquaintance with the island, indefatigable industry in collecting materials, and a real love of his subject have enabled him to produce a book which it is surprising had not been written before. The literature of British zoology is vast, but there is plenty-of work yet remaining to be done. A history of Manx ornith ology, some notes on migration in Man, as well as a very complete description of the natural features of the island, and observations on Manx bird-names, precede the chief part of the book.' In this Mr. Ralfe follows the usual form of local ornithologies, and deals with each species in turn. The list comprises one hundred and thirty-eight species which may be regarded as real Manx birds. Of these, seventy-five are residents, eighteen are summer- migrants, and forty-five are regular visitors which do not breed there. Two excellent maps are included, and there are a number of photographs in the book of different parts of-the island and some of nests
and eggs. "
We descend in the animal kingdom from Ayes to Crustacea, and come to Mr. Webb's little book on The British Woodlice. Even the Isopoda may provide recreation for naturalists, and since English naturalists have devoted their attention to this somewhat neglected order of Crustaceans several new species have been detected in these islands. What naturalist can wish for a greater reward than to be the discoverer of a species new to the British list ? Mr. Webb's monograph, which is a thoroughly scientific and exhaustive piece of work, first appeared in The Essex Naturalist. A feature of the book is the series of extremely well-drawn plates of each of the twenty-five British woodlice. They are drawn by Mr. Charles Sillem, and are lifelike and characteristic down to the smallest details. To the description of each species is appended a figure of the flagellum and last peduncular joint of the antenna which is one of the distinguishing features of the creatures. But we must desist from entering further into scientific details, and bear in mind that this notice is intended for the general reader.
To that individual, lastly, may be recommended Notes from 'Nature's Garden, a little volume of open-air essays, for the most part written in Norfolk and previously printed in the weekly papers. What can there be found new to say about spring, summer, autumn, or winter, the weather, the wide sky, the garden cat, or our turnip-field ? We need only say that these threadbare subjects are nicely treated, and that the authoress produces a pretty little essay out of the extremely slender materials at her disposal. We doubt not that others who also love Nature will find recreation in this volume. The recreations of naturalists are endless.
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