Book Reviews 



The Bird and Nature Study Manual, by Harold B. Shinn and 

 Girard A. Abbott, 459 pages, John C. Mountjoy, Publisher, 

 Chicago. $1.50. 



After a brief introduction of the method of presenting nature- 

 study there are some general chapters: Homes of Animals, The 

 Relation Between the Animals' Feet and Their Habits, Between 

 Teeth, Diet, and Disposition, On the Color of Animals, Mother 

 Love and Babyhood, Parasitic and Social Habits, The Relations 

 Between Plants and Animals, Insects and Pollination, a brief 

 chapter on Beneficial and Injurious Insects, and a chapter on 

 Books of Reference. There then follow 272 pages on the birds, 

 mostly devoted to descriptions of the common species and to their 

 habits. Three pages on minerals and gems follow, then some 30 

 pages on Plants, Medicinal and Commercial, 7 pages on shells, 

 10 pages on insects, and the rest of the book on the Vertebrates. 

 These pages on the Vertebrates are largely descriptive, and there 

 are included descriptions of the Kangaroo, the Armadillo, the 

 Hyrax, etc. One wonders why these are included in a manual 

 for North America Bird and Nature-Study. Evidently the book 

 is intended for use in special courses and would be of little value 

 to the average teacher. The descriptions of birds that make up 

 the bulk of the book could be equally well found in any good bird 

 manual. The nature material is not well balanced for ordinary 

 use, nor is the treatment judicious. There are included lists of 

 questions that are to be answered by the pupil. Many of them, 

 however, pertain to animals that the pupil could be expected to 

 see, such for instance as the beaver, the otter, the whale, only if 

 extensive zoological museums were available for the study. 



In Beaver World, by Enos A. Mills, pages xiiiH- 228. Houghton 

 Mifflin & Co., Boston, $1.75. 



No one has had better opportunities, in recent years at least, 

 for the study of the beaver than Mr. Mills whose residence in the 

 Rocky Mountains has been a long one full of delight in the study 

 of animals of that region. The book gives the reader a very vivid 

 notion of the life and industry of the beaver. There is no animal 

 whose work is so extensive, so permanent and skillful as is the 

 beaver's. The animal, therefore, is an excellent one for the study of 



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