180 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:4— April, 1920 



from, all alone, and by night, for fear of the gulls and the hawks." "Goodness 

 knows if the squirrel meant to eat the hawfinch or the acorns first. Goodness 

 knows if he knew himself, being a squirrel. Anyway, there he was, a flaming 

 picture of dainty, irresponsible, starry-eyed, untrustworthy — ^from a bird's 

 point of view — but sportive life." "The jay stood on the spot vacated by the 

 squirrel and shrieked his harsh, grating shriek, 'he did — he,' the rogue of the 

 woods, the jester of the sombre places." 



There are four stories for each month in the year and for some months more, 

 for there are fifty in all. Some of the stories deal with life from Africa and 

 Northern Europe and in them are descriptions of many species of biris, mice, 

 voles, rabbits, beetles, flies, chameleons, antelopes, wolves, lions, hyenas, 

 snakes and many others. It is a fascinating volume. 



Problems in Botany, by W. L. Eikenberry, Associate Professor of Education, 

 University of Kansas, Ginn and Co. 



This little book which gives 1 1 8 exercises clearly outlined is very much alive 

 and the Nature-study teacher and the teacher of gardening as well as the 

 teacher of high school botany will find it full of vital and practical suggestions. 

 The first chapter. Plants and Water will prove most helpful to the teacher who 

 is preparing her class for gardening. The chapter on Nutrition gives examples 

 for studying how plants bake and use food. The chapter on Provision for 

 Growth begins with the opening of a bud which is an excellent nature-study 

 lesson and shows also how to study the history of the growth of a branch. 

 Other chapters deal with — Reproduction and Propagation, Seed Dispersal, 

 Seeds and Seedlings, Relation to Environment, Relation of Simple Plants to 

 Man's Life and Industries, Mosses and Ferns, Gymnosperms, the Flowering 

 Plants, and Plant Industries. 



This is a book for the do — er. It takes the pupil afield to see things for 

 himself and teaches him to be independent of books- if he does any reading, 

 it will be a translation of his own from Nature's pages. 



The Oven Bird 



In the hollow of the mountains. 

 In the valley spreading from them. 

 Stand the rustling broad-leaved forests 

 Trees whose leaves are shed in autumn. 



Underneath them lie the leaf beds. 

 Resting one upon another, 

 Laid there yearly by the storm winds; 

 . Pressed and smoothed by winter snowdrifts. 



In the days of spring migrations, 

 Days when warbler hosts move northward 

 To the forests, to the leaf-beds, 

 Comes the tiny oven-builder. 



Daintily the leaves he tiptoes; 



Underneath them builds his oven, 



Arched and framed with last years oak leaves 



Roofed and walled against the raindrops. — Bolles. 



