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When I served in the British army it was in a regiment that incorporated a number of older, county based regiments, one of which was the Royal Norfolk Regiment. I once found the old officers mess game book, a very large, thick, brown leather covered tome embossed with gold lettering and thick velum paper. It had been started when the regiment was stationed in India in 1937 and was presented by Major GP St C de Wilton. What was immediately noteworthy was the large number of different species with their own column. I guess it was a reflection of the amount and variety of game that might be encountered in the days of empire.

At the time I made a list of all the headings and thought it might be of interest now. I do recall that there were several very interesting entries, including one beater killed on a tiger hunt; of course, there was no individual �Man� column. The first entry was on 28th June 1938 at Sohna, north India. Having had no entries for a couple of decades, I reinstated the game book and it was still on the mess entrance table, alongside the visitor�s book, when I left the service in 1985. I hope it is still there and being used today.

Bar Head Geese
Grey Lag Geese
Mallard
Pintail
Gadwell
Spot Bill
Shoveller
Pochard
White Eye
Red Crested Pochard
Tufted Pochard
Wigeon
Teal
Garganey Teal
Whistling Teal � a column I was able to fill in when on tour in Belize in 1982 after a couple of evening flights
Brahminy
Nukta

Pea Fowl
Sand Grouse
Partridge; Grey, Black, Painted
Chukar
Snipe
Painted Snipe
Pigeon
Quail
Pheasant
Kaleej
Koklas
Monaal
Hare
Rabbit

Tiger
Panther
Maggar
Ghorial
Nilgai
Black Buck

Looking again at this list it seems clearly oriented to the Asian continent, lacking as it does many African game species. It would also seem that the Indian spelling is used in some cases.

Tim

I have really nothing to add, except my appreciation for your bringing this interesting information to us. Fascinating

I hope the folks kept it going. I remember sitting a couple hours reading through a game book at a duck cabin that went back about fifty years at the time. Some of the entries read like good short magazine articles. That was from around the early eighties, hope they kept that one going.

I had the privilege of hunting for a few years on Little St. Simons Island when it was being leased out by the owner for duck and fallow deer hunting etc. It is now being used as a very expensive,nice, and exclusive ecological commercial operation. Like many of Georgia's barrier sea islands, it is still in private ownership.

When I was there hunting in the '70s I stayed in the old hunting lodge. I remember the Game Book which I believe I read in its entirety back then and which dated back to before the 1st world war IIRC. I duly entered our bags while visiting and when I returned a couple of years ago to visit the lodge, I found the old game book and my old entries, which were among the last...Geo