268 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



The Fairy Land of Living' Things. By Rich- 

 ard Keaton, F. Z. S. London and New 

 York: Cassell & Co., Limited. 



In this book, the brother of the author 

 (Cherry Keaton) shows a wide variety of 

 "odds and ends" in photographic study of 

 the wonderful fairyland of living things of 

 the country side. The author tells of the 

 habits, instincts and characters of the wild 

 creatures that are to be met with every day 

 in field, wood and hedgerow. He rightly 

 claims that by dealing with the romantic 

 and wonderful things in the lives and habits 

 of birds, beasts and insects, young minds 

 (and why not as well older ones, too?) are 

 aroused, and stimulated into observing, en- 

 quiring and thinking for themselves. 



Some of the photographs by Cherry Kea- 

 ton are especially good. The studies of 

 dandelions "asleep" and "awake" well por- 

 tray the night and day attitude of these 

 plants. 



Insect Stories. By Vernon L. Kellogg, 

 Professor of Entomology in Stanford 

 University and Author of "American 

 Insects," "Darwinism To-day," etc. 

 New York: Henry Holt and Company. 



Professor Kellogg has, in this volume of 

 strange, true stories, succeeded in describ- 

 ing the habits of certain insects in so fas- 

 cinating a way that there are few people, 

 either old or young, who will not be held 

 by its charm. Simplicity is the keynote to 

 the studies and observations of the old 

 scientist and the little girl who figure in the 

 book, and their ingenuousness and the sub- 

 tle humor hold one's interest as much as 

 the marvellous doings of the little ground 

 folk themselves. 



It is a splendid illustration of how inter- 

 esting a book of natural history stories may 

 be, while yet purified of all "nature faking" 

 and of all the exaltation of animal hero- 

 composites so popular in recent years. 



[From Special Reviewer] 



When this fascinating volume was 

 handed to me with a request for a review 

 it seemed, in prospect, a simple matter to 

 run through it, reading here a little and 

 there a bit — enough to get a good idea of 

 its handling. — Professor Kellogg's name pro- 

 hibited a question of its absolute accuracy, 

 contents, style, etc. A few moment's read- 

 ing, hov ever, utterly routed this method 

 of procedure. From the moment one gets 

 acquainted with Mary out collecting taran- 

 tula holes — which she assures you is quite 

 easy when you learn how — until the last 

 sentence is read no "skipping" is possible. 

 Professor Kellogg's irresistible charm of 

 handling simply compels a word for word 

 perusal in order not to miss something 

 good. He is amusingly careful in handling 

 the "Instinct or Intelligence" phase of in- 

 sects' acts and leaves the reader perfectly 

 free to exercise his own judgment unbiased. 



Between the lines, however, one can easily 

 read his inclination to the "Intelligence" 

 phase of the matter. 



Although the doings of these little crea- 

 tures were nearly all familiar from obser- 

 vation the stories are so interestingly told, 

 so true to facts and so vivid in description 

 that it was almost equal to actually seeing 

 what he so well describes. 



Ably supplementing the text are the ex- 

 cellent and accurate illustrations — all of 

 which are full page half-tones. These show 

 at a glance that the little creatures were 

 very carefully studied by the artists. The 

 feet and legs, those parts of insects that 

 are usually so inaccurately drawn, are 

 shown in these drawings with gratifying 

 fidelity. 



So natural is Mary that no doubt exists 

 in the mind of the reviewer that she is a 

 portrait from life, — the link that binds all 

 the widely varied stories into a connected 

 narrative. Through her quaint ideas and 

 questions just enough fancy is introduced 

 to inspire additional interest in the facts 

 of the stories. Before many of the stories 

 are read you will be equally insistent with 

 Mary "What can I see?" "What can I see 

 right away; — to-morrow?" 



"Mary you can — see — to-morrow," — and I 

 think rapidly, — you can see — to-morrow," — 

 still thinking, — "ah, yes — yes you can; you 

 can see them to-morrow." 



"But what can I see to-morrow?" 



Yes, that's just the question you will ask 

 yourself for you will have become con- 

 vinced that all out-doors is simply full of 

 interesting things to see and determine to 

 go see some things for yourself — but you 

 will finish the book first. Before the book 

 is ended you will be ready to believe that if 

 Professor Kellogg and Mary went exploring 

 among the letters of the alphabet you could 

 confidently expect twenty-six interesting 

 stories. 



Naturally a reviewer thinks he 

 done his duty unless he register 

 plaint. There is disappointment in 

 sentence which should read "End 

 I," instead of "For this is the 



END 

 of this rambling, talky, little book." 



Ci.k^ B. Davis. 



has not 

 a com- 

 the last 

 of Vol. 



How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds. By 



Martin Hiesemann. London: Witherby 

 & Company, 326 High Holborn. 



This is a practical guide for all who wish 

 to attract the birds to their doors and in- 

 duce them to nest in their gardens, whether 

 large or small. It shows that these birds 

 are most useful in keeping down the insect 

 pests which are so harmful to trees and 

 shrubs. In this connection also the atten- 

 tion of municipal and urban councils may 

 be drawn to the advantages which would 

 accrue to trees and plants from the use of 

 nesting boxes for birds in public parks and 

 open spaces. The methods described are 

 simple but efficient. 



