Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/548

472 white Hares, which abounded in some places, would sit up and stare at you not five yards off."

Although the principal zoological observations refer to the larger mammals, the ornithologist will find much very interesting matter. In the forests of the Bhabar, where the sal-tree (Shorea robusta) is probably the most dominant, or one-tree occupier of any forest in the world, many birds are noticed, and on open uncultivated flats the Spur-winged Plover (Hoplopterus ventralis) is found. Mr. Webber one day had an opportunity of seeing how useful this spur can be to the bird. " I saw one of these birds engaged in mortal combat with a snake which was trying to rob her nest, a perfectly bare spot on the bare ground. The bird got the best of the battle, inflicting some sharp spur blows on the serpent, which retired discomfited."

In practice there is probably no sport more exciting than the tracking and killing of large mammals; it is possible, however, that there is nothing more depressing than a long perusal of the operation. We sicken by our fireside, when without the excitement of the hunt we read of the crash of the bullet, and we visualize the efforts of the maimed quarry to escape. It is pleasant to learn from Mr. Webber that the inhabitants of the jungle do not regard man in India as an enemy, as shown by their extraordinary tameness, which "is a silent testimony from nature to the high humanity of the Buddhist and Hindu religions, which look on animal life as, alike with man's, divine."

are two conditions attached to all natural history collecting operations—one that the collector has his heart in the work, the other that he knows how to do it. This little work has been prepared to instruct any traveller, or colonist, who is anxious to learn how to assist the cause of natural history, and his great National Museum in London. There are simple rules for skinning and preserving vertebrates, and others for collecting and conserving invertebrates. The collection and preservation of plants and fossils are also described. This little book should be as necessary an item in the traveller's scanty baggage as is the proverbial tooth-brush.