Abstract
ONE who has come so much in contact with sportsmen as Mr. Ward must have done should surely know that men do not go out with knapsacks when intent on killing big game. The title “Knapsack Manual” is most unfortunate. Moreover, if the book is intended for sportsmen on the field, why should a considerable portion of it be given up to the mode of setting up a tiger, which a sportsman is very unlikely to do for himself, and certainly would not attempt in the field? Mr. Ward, though he seems to have considerable regard for artistic treatment and compatibility in the setting up of skins, would yet appear to put lichens with his stuffed birds in the conventional style. What a relief to the eye it would be to see a case of stuffed birds without a particle of dead wood or lichens in it ! The directions given for skinning and preserving specimens are not full enough; there are better works on the subject in existence. The lists of game to be found in various parts of the world, at the commencement, form the most useful part of the book. The account of a Museum of Natural History of the Earth from man to a granite stone contained in a case 10 ft. long by 7 ft. high, displays a lamentable amount of ignorance. Some of the remarks about the various creatures are very amusing, as, “Gasteropoda proceed by the belly.” “Armadillos are very remarkably swift in flight.” Altogether this book appears to be of the nature of an advertisement, and we think a not very successful one.
Knapsack Manual for Sportsmen on the Field.
By Edwin Ward. (Bradbury and Evans, 1872.)
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Knapsack Manual for Sportsmen on the Field . Nature 6, 140 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/006140b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/006140b0