: ; e 
50 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 
Vol. 4, No. 11—7 poems (none well known); 12 sketches of birds (childish 
prattle); 6 colored illustrations of birds. , o 
Vol. 4, No. 2.—6 poems; 8 sketches; 7 colored photographs. 
Vol. 4, No. 3.—6 poems; 8 sketches; 7 colored photographs. 
Vol. 4, No. 4.—g9 Poems, 2 birds; 7 sketches, 3 mammals; 8 colored 
illustratrations, 2 plants. 
Vol. 4. No. 5. One page of gems from many poets, giving their 
expression for and appreciation of nature. These quotations in- 
cluded Emerson, Bryant, Chaucer, Milton, Leigh Hunt, Words- 
worth, Shakespear, Coleridge, Byron and Lowell. This is the first 
attempt which I found in the nature-periodicals of this country to 
bring together any such illustrations of the poet’s attitude toward 
the out-of-doors. And for the small space which was taken up with 
this, I think that it is quite representative and that it marks a time 
of distinct progress. Besides these ‘‘gems,’’ were four other poems 
by unknown authors, eight bird, animal, insect and plant sketches, 
and eight colored plates. 
Volume five of the new series, included T. B. Aldrich’s, “‘A Snow 
Flake,’ Longfellow’s, ‘‘ Birds of Passage’? and Whittier’s, ‘‘ The 
Lumberman.” The next volume contained ‘Emerson’s ‘The 
Titmouse,’”’ and what I think is of far greater importance, Edwin 
Markham’s, ‘‘The Brothers of the Ground.’ This is an indication 
of an attempt at least, to bring the magazine up to date by using the 
contemporary writers of our country. The fact that the same 
volume uses a poem from Tennyson is merely indicative of the 
holding over of the old English dominance which was so long a 
detriment to our literature. In the later numbers, the character 
of the articles or sketches has changed somewhat. Neltje Blanchan 
who has a delightful style, and who combines the literary, aesthetic 
and scientific in bird study in quite the nicety of proportion which 
moderns can best enjoy, has some of her work published in the new 
series. Dr. Lynds Jones, editor of the ‘‘ Wilson Bulletin’’ also has 
been represented in the later pages of the magazine. Here then was 
a conservative, nature-study magazine which was launched at a 
time when such things were hardly known, which was maintained 
because of the merit of its plates rather than its material as litera- 
ture, but which is now attempting to becomé more viril, more closely 
adapted to the life and times of its own existence. 
“ Bird-lore,’’ a bi-monthly, was first published in 1898, as the 
official organ of the Audubon Societies, in Harrisburg, Pa., and New 
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