XX 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE— LITERARY NOTES 



IlTERARY 



J— — "AND BIOGI 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



A host of blooms proud Nature grooms, 

 In shady dells and sunny rooms ; 

 Gay insects hum in perfumed air, 

 And lovers dream in meadows fair, 

 Of happy homes — a future state — 

 Where robins nest and songbirds mate ; 

 Thus May-day clears for all the years, 

 The earth of grievous sobbing tears. 



— Robert Sparks Walker. 



JUNE. 



"From tears immune," chants cheerful June, 



All Nature echoes back the tune ; 



With roses, brides and songsters rife, 



A sunny ray in every life; 



Where orchards groan with heavy loads, 



There fireflies dodge big hopping toads; 



And spiders hug and black ants tug 



A cutworm ill and stubborn bug. 



— Robert Sparks Walker. 



How to Use The Microscope. By Reverend 

 Charles A. Hall. Containing 20 Full 

 Pages of Illustrations from Photo-micro- 

 graphs and 25 Line Drawings in the 

 Text. London: Adam and Charles 

 Black. 



This is a book for the novice and con- 

 tains a few suggestions and some illustra- 

 tions of interest to even the most experi- 

 enced. We frequently receive inquiries from 

 beginners with the microscope, and cordially 

 recommend this as having much merit. 



Field-Days iii California. By Bradford Tor- 

 rev. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company. 

 Price: $1.50 net. 



From the Publisher's Note: 



"Bradford Torrey died at Santa Barbara, 

 California, October 7, 1912, two days before 

 his sixty-ninth birthday. He had sent this 

 book to the Publishers some weeks before, 

 but had not had an opportunity to read the 

 proof. The manuscript had been prepared, 

 however, with that scrupulous care which 

 he always exercised in his literary work, and 

 there is no reason to suppose that he would 

 have made any important alterations, even 

 in detail, if he had lived to see it through 

 the press. 



"The Publishers have sought to give the 

 volume something of a memorial character 

 by providing a portrait of the Author and 

 illustrations from photographs of localities 

 treated in the book, in two of which Mr. 

 Torrey himself appears." 



The book contains many instructive chap- 

 ters chiefly devoted to observations of birds. 

 One illustration is particularly interesting. 

 It shows Bradford Torrey sitting under a 

 tree in the foreground and looking across a 

 beautiful valley. His thoughts, too, seem to 

 be beautiful. 



The Threshold of Science Series. Zoology. 

 By Professor E. Brucker. Garden City, 

 New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. 

 This is a popular manual of animal life 

 from the lowest forms to man. It is written 

 for the average man who has no scientific 

 training and wants to know in plain, under- 

 standable language the explanations and 

 causes of natural facts. 



Wild Life across the World. Written and 

 Illustrated by Cherry Kearton. Intro- 

 duction by Theodore Roosevelt. New 

 York City : Hodder and Stoughton. 

 Mr. Kearton and his brother are known 

 the world over as remarkable photographers 

 and accomplished students of nature. The 

 author of this book has done excellent work 

 in Africa, and has received the highest com- 

 mendation from President Roosevelt who met 

 him there. The work possesses genuine sci- 

 entific value and is entrancingly interesting. 

 It appeals to a wide range of nature inter- 

 ests — hunting, photography, biology. The illus- 

 trations are remarkably good. One feels in 

 reading the book that here is an original man- 

 ual, not a compilation, from the hand of a 

 master in the study of nature. 



The FIotver-Finder. By George Lincoln Wal- 

 ton, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippin- 

 cott Company. 

 I differ with the author in what he says in 

 the first sentence of his preface : "The study 

 of wild flowers offers an unrivalled diversion 

 for one who, in retirement from active work, 

 feels the need of something to replace the 

 interests which have hitherto absorbed him." 

 Why should the study of wild flowers be left 

 as a diversion upon retirement from active 

 work? There is nothing better on earth than 

 an interest in nature. Far better is it than 

 many of the forms, too numerous to men- 

 tion, of diversions from active work of the 

 present day. But he goes on to state : "It is 

 well for the plodder, in danger of going stale 

 from too protracted toil, to improve such 

 opportunities as offer for the broadening of 

 his horizon before it is too late." I would 

 not restrict it to the plodder, but would urge 

 all people to seek rest, refreshment and uplift 

 in nature. But my thought is one of pleas- 

 antry rather than of criticism. I can seriously 

 speak only good things about the book, the 

 contents of which are attractive. It is well 

 arranged, and convenient. The publishers 

 have done their part well. 



