Abstract
DURING the last forty years we have had many books on Alpine climbing, as Mr. Baillie-Grohman observes, but not one on Alpine sport; for the late Charles Bonar wrote his delightful little volume on “Chamois Hunting” before the first Alpine Club was founded. That, however, dealt with a rather limited portion of the Alps, and was chiefly concerned with the chamois, though it also gave some account of stag shooting. Mr. Baillie-Grohman takes a wider range, both of space and of subject. Still, even he writes mamly, as did Mr. Bonar, of the Bavarian and Tyrolese Alps; indeed, the Graians are the only district that receives more than a casual notice. The reason for this is obvious; in the Central and Western Alps the red deer is unknown, and the chamois, as a rule, is not common. The latter, indeed, might have followed the former; for republican principles, as all the world knows, are not favourable to the preservation of game; but the Swiss authorities, whether actuated by sentiment or by an eye to the main chance, have taken steps—and with considerable success—to save this animal from extermination. But in the limestone range which lies north of the Inn, on the frontier of Bavaria and Austria, and in one or two parts in the main range of the Tyrol, there are large mountain districts which are strictly preserved by their owners. One of these districts, as Mr. Baillie-Grohman says, might be called “the Dukeries,” for all its masters are at least of that rank; the finest “shoot” belonging to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Mr. Baillie-Grohman tells many nteresting anecdotes of the late Duke, one of the keenest of sportsmen, whose shooting party he was frequently invited to join.
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BONNEY, T. Books on Mountains1. Nature 55, 102–105 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/055102a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/055102a0