|
|
|||||||
Nick: All Corbett's and Baker's stuff is first-rate of course. Andersen's "Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India" is good, also "Jungle By-ways in India" by E.P. Stebbing. Among the early stuff, anything by 'The Old Shekarry' (Henry Leveson) is great, ripping yarns of adventure and derring-do in the colonies! For something out of the ordinary, try "Tiger in Sight" by Astrid Bergman Sucksdorff. The best technical account may well be J.G.Elliott's "Field Sports in India 1800 - 1947". Then "Sport and Wildlife in the Deccan", "The Tiger Hunters", and "A Book of Maneaters" by Reginold George (R.G.) Burton. There were a couple of Burtons, Richard or R.W. Burton's diaries were published posthumously as "Tigers of the Raj" which is very interesting but a bit tedious. Tedious also IMHO is "Thirty-seven Years of Big Game Shooting in Cooch Behar, the Duars, and Assam" by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar. A marvellous book, but in reality a glorified (long!) list of quarry bagged during his reign. Others on my shelf which I consider a good read include: "A Ceylon Sportsman's Diary" by H.Storey, "Tigers of Trengannu" by A.Locke, "Musings of an Old Shikari" by A.I.R.Glasfurd. I also have a copy of Dean Witter's privately published "Shikar"which is a good conversation piece! Most of the good British double rifles in Australia came from India, including all but one of mine. Consequently about 3ft 8ins of my bookshelves are devoted to books specifically on Indian hunting! Love that stuff! |