LITERARY NOTICES. 



561 



the results of investigations by Prof. S. P. 

 Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 by Hiram S. Maxim, the English inventor. 

 Colonel Waring has supplemented bis trans- 

 _ lation of Fijnje's book with abstracts of two 

 still later announcements of results by Prof. 

 Langley, and some extracts and illustrations 

 from a study of a practical air ship con- 

 tributed by Mr. John P. Holland to Cassier's 

 Magazine. The reader may obtain from this 

 volume an understanding of the problems 

 that have to be solved before the air can 

 be navigated, and a knowledge of lines along 

 which these problems are being approached. 



A BiRD-LOVER IN THK WeST. By OlIVE 



Thorne Miller. Boston and New York : 

 Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 278. Price, 

 $1.25. 



Of old the poet Horace warned us that 

 ' black Care sits behind the horseman and 

 does not withdraw from the ship," but Mrs. 

 Miller assures us that the way to truly recre- 

 ate is to leave our hurries and worries be- 

 hind us and seek some unfamiliar spot where 

 we may commune with Nature. Even with 

 her explicit directions this may not be easily 

 accomplished. Her example is, however, of 

 more practical value than her advice. 



It is not the going away, nor change of 

 scene, nor yet strength of will, that dismisses 

 the dark follower, but the substitution of a 

 greater interest for our own petty concerns. 

 If we can not journey to Cheyenne Mountain, 

 there are new worlds to be discovered about 

 us, and this book shows such loving study of 

 bird life that some may be tempted to begin 

 it at home. 



Wherever the author finds herself at 

 the foot of the Rocky Mountains, beside 

 Great Salt Lake, or in " the middle coun- 

 try " her first inquiries are for her winged 

 neighbors. In the forest and in the canon 

 she spends days observing the manners and 

 habits of the wren, chat, or blue jay. Inci- 

 dentally she notes that poets take too much 

 license with the traits of her feathered 

 friends. " The voiceless swallow," " forget- 

 ful thrush," and " mourning dove " are base 

 misnomers. The coo of the dove " has a 

 rich, far-ofi" sound, . . . expressing a happi- 

 ness beyond words," and not one of the swal- 

 low tribe can be called mute. 



In the arid country the author comes 

 VOL. XLVI, 40 



upon a housewife who cooks outdoors. The 

 stove is under an oak tree, while the pots 

 and pans hang outside the house. This is 

 so nearly akin to the ways of the winged 

 fraternity that place is given to a regret that 

 the woman is not a bird to be studied ! 



In spite of her zeal for bird acquaintance, 

 the flowers do not go unobserved ; two chap- 

 ters are devoted to their changing glories in 

 the wild garden of Colorado. Not only do 

 these surpass the eastern flora in size, color, 

 and fragrance, but also in abundance and 

 variety. In one localitj a hundred differing 

 kinds are found in a month, and of these 

 only half a dozen are recognized as old 

 friends. 



Altogether, a most inviting field, accord- 

 ing to the author, awaits the naturalist in 

 the west. 



The Friendship of Nature. By Mabel 

 Osgood Wright. New York and Lon- 

 don: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 238. Price, 

 75 cents. 



This little volume depicts a series of 

 New England landscapes. They are ren- 

 dered with words instead of colors, but an 

 artist would have little difficulty in repro- 

 ducing them by any medium he might 

 choose. Foreground, background, sky, at- 

 mosphere, and foliage are delineated by the 

 faithful eye that neglects no detail. 



With the scenic descriptions are given 

 bits of botany, ornithology, and philosophy, 

 quaint legend, and flower lore. 



Although employing a prose form, the 

 author delights in rhythmical expression, 

 and many sentences are as easily scanned as 

 the following : " Down from the village runs 

 the dusty road " ; " The flush of morning 

 comes upon the sea." Figures are lavishly 

 scattered about; some of these are fresh 

 and effective. Mushrooms are pictured as 

 the gypsy race of plant-land that rears its 

 fungus encampment. Occasionally this love 

 of imagery betrays the author; she writes 

 in regard to the blue gentian : " One dreams 

 that the sky, once molting, dropped its soft- 

 edged feathers on the grass, and earth twined 

 them into flowers." The vision of the vault- 

 less blue shaped like some huge fowl shed- 

 ding its feathers is too incongruous to be 

 entertained, and we dismiss it to the com- 

 pany of that distressing simile, " And like a 



