A LOVER OF WILDFOWL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 450, 6 February 1948, Page 17

A LOVER OF WILDFOWL

A BOOK OF WILDFOWL. By Ian Pitman. With Paintings and Drawings by Peter Scott. Faber and Faber, London.

PRISONERS of war in different coun"tries during World War II. adopted many schemes for whiling away the time. Ian Pitman, P.O.W. in Germany, wrote a book on wildfowl and shooting, and in attaining his object-‘to lose war and death and tedium of life in memories of clear starlit nights, of marram grass and grey saltings, of curlew and plover and pluck and of the whistle of wings cutting through cold winter air" --he has produced a book that will be read with interest and pleasure by shooting men and lovers of nature throughout the world. His analysis of his feelings towards shooting in his introduction "to himself" must state the case of many a shooting man. The book emphasises the plenty of wildfowl-of both species and individ-uals-in Britain where they get numbers of migratory birds, as compared with New Zealand, where the area shot over has to provide thg game. It also emphasises the satisfaction that the true sportsman gets out of small bags, if he is, as he should be, a student of nature and a lover of the outdoors. The sentiments of the author may be epitomised by a verse that first appeared nearly half a century ago: Who cares for the goal? It’s the game Sets the pulses aflame. The goal is satiety; bliss In the’ chase alone is. God give us the hunt, though the prey Shall escape us to-day. His detailed descriptions of some of his forays leave no doubts as to his enthusiasm and appreciation ‘of his surroundings. He tells of a night after widgeon on a tidal flat and adds: "On a night such as I have described you may be out for four or five hours at a stretch and if you get a dozen widgeon you will have done extraordinarily well .... You will certainly be cold and probably be wet, and yet if you can rise above the discomfort you will find an endless fascination in the joy of merging into that shadowy moonlit world; in listening to the calling of the birds and in watching, yourself unseen, the feeding and flighting of duck and curlew, the constant coming and going of estuary life. The thrill of an occasional shot is sufficient to send the blood chasing, and to keep you from freezing up altogether." It should be remembered that this is in Scotland where the temperature is much lower than in New Zealand, and the enthusiasm with which a shooter must be imbued to go on such expeditions is reflected throughout this book. In recent years there has been some talk by local Acclimatisation Societies about importing to New Zealand duck that would thrive on estuarial praters. They would get much practical

information here that would be of value to them, though differences in temperature would need to be considered. In dealing with the wild geese the author rightly refers to the "Canada" Goose, not "Canadian," the title that is incorrectly used by all Acclimatisation Societies here, and even in the Animals Protection Act itself. The book is beautifully illustrated by Peter Scott. Of the two coloured plates, the one of "Grey Geese, Dawn Flight," is particularly fine. No one who has ever shot geese could look at that picture without feeling a thrill, for it is so lifelike that it seems the birds are bound to pass right overhead. "Evening Flight, Pintail" is another picture that no duck shooter could look at without a twitching of the trigger-finger. The small sketches of the different duck are very informative, and the method of repeating them at the beginnings or endings of chapters makes a novel and attractive set up to the book.

Edgar F.

Stead