A very different class of official publication is the Report
of the Committee on Cruelty to Wild Animals (H.M.S.O., price 3s. 6d.), of which until this week I had only read the summaries that appeared in the Press. This is a most able and fascinating document, a model of lucidity in its style and of fair-mindedness in its approach to the controversial matters which the Committee had to tackle. Any report which includes observations like : "We have not found that in the pursuit of the various sports which we have considered man is governed by logic to any greater extent than in his other activities," must inspire con- fidence in its compilers ; and this one is extraordinarily thorough and judicious. It contains a great deal of natural history, since each animal's habits are described before the charges of cruelty against its pursuers are examined ; and although there is no section specifically devoted to homo sapiens, a great deal of indirect light is thrown both on the English sportsman and on his critics. It is typical of the Committee's outlook that, after noting drily that "few people seem to be in the least concerned about what happens to rats . . . yet the rat is an intelligent and highly sensitive creature, and probably suffers far more than some of the animals which attract a great deal of sentimental interest," they go on to recommend that certain methods of trapping and poisoning rats should not be used.
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