Mr. G. Lacy, writing to 'South Africa,' has endeavoured to make a calculation as to how many Elephants have been killed in South Africa by white men. From careful study he has made the following list of those who have killed a hundred or more, but of course there must be others that could be added.:—
| H. Hartley | 600 | Gordon Cumming | 109 |
| F. Green | 500 | A. Ericksson | 100 |
| J. Dunn | 400 | D. Hume | 100 |
| G. Wood | 400 | W. Jennings | 100 |
| Jan Viljoen | 400 | T. Jennings | 100 |
| Piet Jacobs | 400 | R. Lewis | 100 |
| C.J. Anderson | 350 | H. Wahlberg | 100 |
| M. Zwartz | 300 | J. Lee | 100 |
| J. Chapman | 250 | W. Hartley | 100 |
| J. Cane | 200 | T. Hartley | 100 |
| S.H. Edwards | 200 | H. Ogle | 100 |
| F.C. Selous | 200 | J.Todd | 100 |
| W.C. Oswell | 200 | H. Smuts | 100 |
| W. Finnaughty | 200 | J. Gifford | 100 |
| H. Larsen | 200 | H. Fynn | 100 |
| P. Zietsman | 200 | G. Shadwell | 100 |
| R. Benningfield | 150 | R. Dubois | 100 |
| J.H. Wilson | 150 | G.A. Phillips | 100 |
| W.C. Baldwin | 100 | C. Van Royen | 100 |
He also believes that quite a hundred have killed between 50 and 100—say 7000 Elephants; and if 5000 are added for men who have shot less than 50 each, we arrive at about 20,000 Elephants. Except in the last item, this is not so much mere guesswork as some might suppose, for, though bags, whether fur, feather, or fish, are always to be received with caution, yet the above is considered fairly accurate for one reason, that, except in the cases of Selous, Cumming, and Baldwin, they do not rest on the testimony of the men themselves. One Matabele hunter, who shall be nameless, told the writer that he had shot 400, when to his certain knowledge 40 would cover his bag. Cane, Ogle, and Fynn date back to 1825–35, and Hume to 1830–40, but all the rest from 1850 to 1880, when Elephant hunting was practically over as a business. Mr. Lacy doubts if any one man has killed a hundred since that date, though perhaps numbers make the claim.
We heartily welcome the first number—published this month—of Mr. Howard Saunders's second edition, revised, of his 'Illustrated Manual of British Birds.' Both book and author are sufficiently well known to require no further comment, and we hope to notice the whole work at the completion of its twentieth number.
