86 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 2, march, 1905 



extended course. On the other hand, in schools in which a study 

 of these first principles of agriculture is introduced into the last 

 year as an entirely new subject, so condensed a text-book would 

 hardly suffice alone to accomplish its avowed purpose. No at- 

 tempt is made to outline a complete course of study or to give any 

 but the simplest examples of practical work ; many topics are 

 omitted altogether or stated briefly as facts without demonstra- 

 tion. It is difficult to see how the book, taken as reading lessons 

 only, could arouse any very vivid interest in the farm as a subject 

 of thought and study. Supplemented, however, by additional 

 practical work, and in the hands of a trained teacher, it might be 

 very useful as a reading book for those classes in which the 

 economic side of nature-study is emphasized. 



Ada Watterson. 

 Teachers College, 



Columbia University. 



Bird Life Stories. Book I. By C. M. Weed. Chicago, Rand, 

 McNally & Co. 1904. Pp. 86, 24 three-color plates. 75 

 cents. 

 This book, which is one of a series of three books now in press, 

 is made up of condensed and revised selections from descriptions 

 of our common birds by Audobon, Wilson, Nuttall and Bendire — 

 our four most famous writers on birds. The slight revisions and 

 condensations of the original descriptions have been made only 

 where it was necessary to omit matter of no modern or general 

 interest and to shorten sentences so as to make the meaning more 

 clear to pupils of the upper grammar grades, for which the book 

 is intended. Notes on geographical distribution have been added 

 to the description of each bird ; and each account is accompanied 

 by a plate which is excellent in its truthfulness to form and color. 

 The book presents in a most attractive form just such material as 

 a teacher should be glad to place in the hands of the pupils to sup- 

 plement their practical work on birds. Teachers and pupils will 

 eagerly await the appearance of the other two volumes. 



Anna N. Bigelow. 



Monarch, the Big Bear. By E. Thompson Seton. N. Y., 

 Scribner's Sons. 1904. 

 This interesting story deserves notice in a journal devoted to 

 the educational aspects of nature-study not because it has any 



