80 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Feb. 



The Stories Mother Nature told her Children. By Jane 

 Andrews. London : Ginn & Co. Price 2s. 6d. 

 Another of the delightful books for children, of which there are now 

 fortunately so many to choose from. This one is a collection of 

 articles which appeared in ' Our Young Folks ' and ' The Riverside 

 Magazine ' shortly after the publication of ' The Seven Sisters,' by 

 the same writer. Before Miss Jane Andrews died she had expressed 

 her intention of thus collecting the stories, and had chosen the title 

 here given, and her intention was carried out by her sisters. A great 

 part of the book is based on real events which the writer was in the 

 habit of utilising to illustrate the beauty and nobility of everyday life. 

 There are fourteen stories in all, beautifully told in simple language, 

 and eminently suitable for reading aloud to children. The story of the 

 insect metamorphosis, told under the heading of " The New Life," is 

 particularly well done, but all are good. " Sixty-two Little Tadpoles " 

 tells the life-history of the Amphibians very simply, yet quite accurately, 

 in a way that must be very suggestive to the inquiring mind of a child. 

 Other stories tell of Frost, Plants, the Sea, &c, in the same interesting 

 manner. 



Eves and No Eyes. By Arabella B. Buckley. London : Cassell 

 & Co. Price 3s. 6d. 

 We have experienced great difficulty in getting an opportunity to 

 notice this book. With the view of testing the feelings of the readers 

 for whom it is intended, we put it into the hands of an intelligent 

 maiden of six years of age who had just learned to read. Since that 

 time it has been impossible to get it back for more than a few moments, 

 and finally we have had to carry it away surreptitiously for an hour 

 after the maiden had disappeared for the night. But if Mrs Fisher 

 could have seen — as we hope she has seen in the case of other children 

 — how it was enjoyed and appreciated, we feel sure she would have 

 wished for no further reward for writing it. It seems to us that any 

 criticism is, under these circumstances, beside the point, if not imper- 

 tinent. The book is intended to interest children in country life. It 

 does so intensely : Q.E.D. There is no need to say more, but we may 

 add that the illustrations are good and interesting, the only fault being 

 that the coloured plates do not appear opposite their descriptions, which 

 the authoress evidently also regrets. In a future edition we should prefer 

 to see the book paged continuously throughout. Parents and teachers 

 may give this book to children in full confidence that the little ones will 

 be delighted with the gift. In addition to that, it will stir up the donors 

 to more careful thought on many simple but fascinating points of 

 natural life. 



Earth and Sky. By J. H. Stickney. London : Ginn & Co. 



Price is. 6d. 



A first-grade Nature Reader and Text-book, Part II. of which we 



noticed in our last issue. The aim is to suggest the entire world as it 



lies about us in our infancy, and to guide the child into the pathways of 



