... IT is becoming more and more widely accepted that, with the exception of a few individuals, big-game animals are only dangerous as the result of provocation by man. John F. Burger, who was born in South Africa, and has hunted in many parts of east and central Africa, specialising in buffalo as quarry, supports this theory in African Buffalo Trails (Robert Hale: 18s.). He writes, In parts of ...

... TWO books dealing with lawn tennis are The Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual and Almanack, 1955 (E. J. Burrow; 2s. 6d.), which has its usual complete records as well as articles by the former Maureen Connolly and by J. Drobny; and How to Play Tennis (Nicholas Kaye; 15s.), by Oscar Fraley and Charles Yerkow, con taining some 400 photographs in which shots are demonstrated by outstanding American ...

... The -third volume of James Fisher's Bird Recognition (Pelican Books 3s. 6d.) really can be carried in the pocket. The fund of informa tion that is condensed into a small space by maps and year-cycle charts is wonderfully ingenious and accurate very little is omitted that concerns (in this penultimate volume) the rails, the game-birds' and the larger perching and singing birds. Some of the ...

... Some years ago there was a spate of books on fishing, which gradually subsided, and now the publishers are producing great numbers of them about ponies. Hoof Beats (Phoenix House ios. 6d.), by Peggy Cannam, is clearly for the very young, but when it comes to reading of the hounds, rudders wagging, it is time to give up in despair. About the only similarity between the aforementioned book and ...

... RECENTLY there was pub lished in England Mammals of the World (G. G. Harrap; 60s.), by Francis Bourliere, a beautifully produced and important book. Numerous writers deal with birds, and often do so excellently, but nothing like so many books on animals have appeared in recent years. It is true to say that much of this gap is now closed by a volume which is most lavishly illus trated by ...

... ONE cannot help feeling that in the past there has been fairly widespread ignorance about the game of cricket in Ireland-- an ignorance due to be eradicated from the mind of anyone who reads Cricket in Ireland (Kerryman, Ltd., Tralee; 15s.), by Patrick Hone, a delightful history of the game in those parts. And it is quite a long history, for the first game of which there is any record was ...

... ALTHOUGH it may seem at first sight that a book called The Technique of Competitive Swimming (Collets Holdings; 15s.) would be of interest to a somewhat limited public, the world being not over-full of competitive swimmers, this is not the case. ims volume by Bela Rajki is illustrated by the staggering number of 528 photo graphs, reproduced in such a fashion that almost every stage of every ...

... Those of the Forest (Faber 21s.) is by Wallace Byron Grange, a member of the U.S. Biological Survey, and his book deals with American animals in an American landscape. The principal characters (and his method verges on that of characterisation) are snowshoe rabbits. His study of them is knowledgeable, serious and thorough. Yet, although' he can write well, and has some impressive descriptive ...

... 1 1 I IT is only necessary, in a rash moment, to accept an invita tion to judge home-made wines at the village fête to discover how many there are how many, and how various, ranging from those that simply explode at the touch, to others which only burn slowly, and a few that are as delicious as the products of a French master. In her book Amateur Wine Making j (Faber and Faber 21s.) Mrs. S ...

... A CITY which excelleth all others was the descrip- tion which one of Henry VIII's physicians used about London; he was thinking in terms of Venice, Home and Constan tinople. And Oliver Lawson Dick, who has written The Vanished City: a Prospect oj London t lutcninson 63s.), for which Robert Carrier has selected about 130 contemporary engravings, supports the claim with enthusiasm and ...

... Good Investments For Your Library Black's Veterinary Dictionary ARE you aware of the difference between a hog and a hogg, or quite sure what a gimmer is? Could you accurately define the Animal Protein Factor about which one hears so much nowadays? What is a teart soil? When is a female cat best neutred? These and a host of similar matters are covered by Black's Veterinary Dictionary, by ...

... Some Strawberry Troubles of 1951 Many are Wondering whether strawberries are really worth while this year there were no killing spring frosts, but the yield was often disappointing. In some districts these were the troubles which assumed major proportions. Grey Mould Botrytis cinerea The common name for this disease is Grey Mould as, when it forms spores, a typical grey, felt-like powder is ...