X 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



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LITERAK 



NOTICES 



The Story of Scotch.. By Enos A. Mills. 

 Boston and New York City : Houghton 

 ]\Iifflin Company. 



This book is the complete life-storyof a faith 

 ful dog by a loving master. Living as he did 

 high up in the Rocky Mountains and belong- 

 ing to a master like Enos Mills, Scotch had 

 more adventures than fall to the lot of most 

 dogs, and the story of his happy, heroic useful 

 life and his tragic death will be enjoyed by all 

 who are fond of good stories of adventure as 

 well as bv all dog lovers. 



Bird Friends. By Gilbert H. Trafton. Boston 

 and New York: Houghton .Mifflin Com- 

 pany. 

 This is a book for the general reader who 

 wants to know something about the birds with- 

 out becoming a special student. It includes 

 concise and interesting accounts of migration, 

 song, nesting, the rearing of young, and plum- 

 age ; a chapter on how to know the birds ; and 

 full discussions of the economic value of birds 

 as insect eaters, weed seed eaters, and destroy- 

 ers of rodent pests, of the few harmful birds, 

 of the enemies of birds (natural enemies, the 

 English sparrow, the cat and man himself), of 

 bird protective agencies (the Audubon So- 

 cieties, bird clubs, the state and federal govern- 

 ments), of the propagation of game birds, of 

 the methods of attracting birds (nesting boxes, 

 winter feeding, fountains, shrubs, etc.) and of 

 the teaching of bird protection in the schools. 



Let Us Go Afield. By Emer?on Hough. 

 New York City : D. Appleton and Com- 

 pany. 



This pleasing book of outdoor life is es- 

 pecially adapted to the sportsman's point of 

 view, yet in spite of all that it says about the 

 gun, it still exhibits the commendable spirit of 

 the naturalist. The author is quite a philoso- 

 plier. He says : 



"The real pleasure of life consists in dream- 

 ing of things we want to do. The most interest- 

 ing reading in the world is that which tells us 

 about ourselves as we would like to be, or about 

 things we would like to do, or about how to get 

 things we want to get.'' 



He is fond too of baseball when he plays it 

 himself, but finds it rank nonsense when paid 

 players do the playing. Here is his way of sum- 

 ming up the whole matter. 



"But paid spectators of sports do not produce 

 that sort of blood for very many generations, 

 not unless they have other forms of sport as 

 well, individual sport, actual sport, sport on the 



earth, under the sky, by the waters, in the 

 woods — building blood which tells today and 

 tomorrow. H a son of mine contracted the 

 sneaking habit of going fishing whenever he 

 got a chance I am not sure that I would lick 

 him for it. But if he developed a predilection 

 for pop and cigarettes, if he did not know how 

 to walk or shoot or hide, if he came home and 

 told me all about Connie McGraw and Willie 

 Collins and nothing about the trees and flowers, 

 methinks I would keep a large paternal slipper 

 in pickle for his anatomy. 



"All this, however, in strict confidence, gentle 

 reader. Who am 1 to chide you? I do not 

 chide you. But the long years of the future 

 will chide if you are not a man." 



Aftermath. 



November winds are with us 



And yet, in garden beds, 

 Despite the chill of autumn. 



Brave blossoms lift their heads. 



The pholx all rosy brightness, 



Alyssum still so sweet ; 

 Though sister flowers, aweary. 



Lie drooping at their feet. 



The lupin wears its purple, 



And maid-in-mist is seen. 

 Her blue eyes almost hidden 



By lashes long of green. 



As spicy as carnations, 

 The gillies scent the breeze, 

 Though from their late gyrations, 

 We miss the roving bees. 



Great pansies, clad in velvet, 



Look up as gay, serene. 

 As if the time were summer, 



And June still wore her green. 



November winds bring Ijleakness, 



l!ut do not call it drear. 

 When, in gardens and in woodlands, 



So much is left to cheer. 



■ — Emma Peirce. 



During the past year or two there has 

 been a most alarming spread of rabies 

 among wolves, coyotes and other wild ani- 

 mals in the West. Domestic animals, 

 especially stock, are being bitten, and even 

 children have been attacked. 



