Works of Reference
Stalking in the Himalayas and Northern India. By Lt.-Col. C. H. Stoekley, D.S.O. (Herbert Jenkins. 15s.)
Pike on the Plug. By Sidney Spencer. (Witherby. 68.)
•
IT stands to reason that all fishermen arc good and great,
and Mr. Spencer is no exception to the rule. He is good at any rate, transparently good and simple.. A kind of
piscatorial White Knight (who carries two" gaffi—one for big fish and one for little ones),, he ambles enthusiastically through these pages, absolutely strapped about with extra rods and Multiplying reels and self-striking spoons and hundreds of orenos of every shape and size and colour. The White Knight, if you remember, once thought of a plan for dyeing his whiskers:green and always using so .large.,alau that they could not be seen. Mr. Spender," admitting that a pike 'does not usually jump when being played, has thought of a plan for making the pike jump so that he can then prevent him from doing so. Pike on the Plug reads like the catalogue of a tackle . shop (those fascinating hills frOrn which one can never escape without buying something- that one did not want), and I am afraid that I cannot urge it .irpon_anybody who, like myself, has been accustomed to: :potter 7along, handlining a kidney spoon off. a broken-down trout rod, or using a home-made oreno when the mares-tail is high. So far as I can make out, however, the book stops short of recommending those . accursed organ-grinder's reels which play the fish automatically while the fisherman winds the handle.
Lt.-Col. Stockley's book on stalking in India seems to be a model of what such books should be. Partly anecdotal, partly -advisory (and what sound advice !—" In the havresae should be : First Field dressing, skinning knives, measuring tape, spare packet of cartridges, chocolate, toilet-paper "), partly theoretical (" As the result of experiment I have come to the conclusion that 1$ degrees on either side is the maximum angle of distribution of scent from its point of origin, and any angle outside that can be disregarded "y, partly encyclo- paedic (the vernacular name, description, horns and dis- tribution of each species are given in full), the book is written by a man whose delight lies in the stalk alone, and who can sincerely affirm that the camera possesses advantages over the gun.
Game Birds and Game Bird Shooting is another first-rate work of reference. Here the aspiring devotee of Gunhilda will find chapters upon each of the game birds,- upon vermin, diseases, rearing, cooking, gun and choice of shoot. There is a useful appendix of facts similar to those printed in the shooting diaries given away by Messrs. Eley, and there are splendid photographs, together with accurate colour plates by Mr. Philip Rickman. The chapter on "The Next Genera- tion" ends with a message of hope on the subject of the aerial system, which will encourage this reviewer, for one, in just one more attempt to raise a hundred birds 'next
season without staring ruin in the face. T. H. WHITE. -
Previous page
