^THE BOOK SHELFiy 



To Doubleday, Page & Co., all nature lovers are deeply indebted. From its 

 beginning this Publishing Company has bent its energies to making the reading 

 public intelligent about its out-of-door environment. The Nature Library, a 

 dignified and remarkable series, has been a bulwark of interesting and valuable 

 information for the nature lover. The Editor has actually worn out some of the 

 books of this series and cheerfully replaced them with fresh copies expecting to 

 wear them out also. 



Again we are all indebted to the Doubleday, Page & Co., for the charming 

 and enlightening books of the Worth Knowmg Series, each well illustrated and 

 interestingly written and costing only $i.6o a volume. 



Birds Worth Knowing comprises a selection from the writings on birds of Mrs. 

 Doubleday (Neltje Blanchan) and no one of all the writers concerning bird life 

 has written more understandingly or charmingly than she. This volume 

 begins with a chapter on "What birds do for us," and makes a very clear and 

 useful classification of those that care for the foliage, those that have charge of 

 the bark and of those that are care-takers of the ground floor. 



At the beginning of the account of each bird is given its color, description, 

 range and migrations, then follows a truly interesting story of the bird's ways 

 and habits. The book is illustrated with 48 colored plates, which are beautiful 

 and most useful in identifying the birds. At the end of the volume is a color 

 key. About 130 birds are described, including some of the more important 

 owls, hawks, bitterns, rails, ducks and geese. 



Trees Worth Knowing by Julia Rogers is reserved for notice in the Tree 

 Number of The Nature-Study Review. 



Wild Flowers Worth Knowing is a volume selected from Mrs. Doubleday's 

 writings about flowers. Mr. Don Dickinson made the selections and arranged 

 the discussions of the flowers according to the classification of the revised Gray's 

 Manual and has done a good piece of work. Mrs. Doubleday in the preface 

 gives the keynote to the volume when she says, "For flowers have distinct 

 objects in life and are everything they are for the most justifiable reasons, i. e. 

 the perpetuation and improvement of their species. To really understand 

 what the wild flowers are doing, what the scheme of each one is, besides look- 

 ing beautiful, is to give one a broader sympathy with both man and nature and 

 to add a real interest and joy to Hfe which cannot be too widely shared." 

 Thus she states exactly the aims of nature-study in relation to plants. Nearly 

 200 plants are described and discussed. A color key is given on the last pages 

 and the book is illustrated with 48 very beautiful pictures in color. 



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