59

Fine Pieces on Wildlife

Sportsman's Country by Donald Culross Peattie. (Houghton Miffline, $3.)

Sensitive writing about nature is always a treat and it is a pleasure to report that Mr. Peattie is near the top of his form in this little book.

There are 12 chapters in the volume. They begin with "Bob-white Country" and run through gray squirrels, trout, jack rabbits, Valley quail, woodchuck, white-winged doves, bass, mule deer, red fox and hawk to "Marsh Country."

Every sportsman--and nature lover--will have his favorite, I'm sure, but because I admire the bobwhite quail above all other game birds, the opening chapter is the one I like best.

Let's look at that chapter:

Mr. Peattie examines Bob's ornithological background at the outset (deciding he is more partridge than quail), comes out strong for Bob as the "sweetest game bird" of all, records the bird's calls (and there are amazing variations), studies his habitat in minutest detail, discusses conservation practices and then goes into Bob's personal habits. And when he gets through you have read one of the handsomest essays now in print on this feathered jet.

So it goes throughout the book. Mr. Peattie probably has taken a closer and longer look at more game birds than any other naturalist in America and these chapters are the clotted cream of his observations.

America's sporting literature has grown marvelously in recent years and this volume (though not a shot is fired in it) deserves a place on the shelf with any sportsman's favorites. I am providing room on my shelves for it beside Col. Harold Sheldon's superb "Tranquility" books and I couldn't pay it a higher compliment.

There is a felicity of style, an awareness of the place of wild creatures in our supercivilized world and an implied acknowledgment of the shotgunner's and angler's viewpoint of them that should endear Mr. Peattie to every sportsman who had tried to explain the fascination of hunting or fishing to people who deplore both pastimes. --VPH

"Retirement without the love of letter is a living burial."
--Seneca.