50 YEARS AGO

See the advert, right, from Nature 9 December 1950.

100 YEARS AGO

The recent sporting experiences of Mr. Selous. Having seen, or shot, practically every species of great game in South and South-east Africa, the indefatigable author of the volume before us has devoted several seasons in the closing decade of the century to hunting-trips in the northern hemisphere. These expeditions included three trips to Asia Minor in search of the wild goat, the Armenian sheep, and the Asiatic red deer, and two to the Rocky Mountains, where wapiti, mule-deer, white-tailed deer, prongbuck and lynx fell to the practised aim of the veteran hunter. Not that Mr. Selous is by any means merely a hunter; he is likewise an observant field-naturalist and enthusiastic egg-collector, having contributed many years ago an important paper on African antelopes to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, while his recent expeditions to Asia Minor have furnished material for an ornithological paper to the Ibis. It is perhaps needless to add that such an experienced hunter may be depended upon not to shoot animals for the mere sake of slaying, and that after obtaining a few fine examples of the species he encountered for the first time to add to his splendid collection at Alpine Lodge, Worplesdon, and occasionally killing an individual or two for the commissariat, Mr. Selous has always been content to stay his hand.

From Nature 6 December 1900.