160 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
published as a separate book. I believe it would be accepted with en- 
thusiasm by people all over the country who find the ordinary begin- 
ner’s bird manual too conventional and stereotyped to. arouse either 
their own enthusiasm or that of their children. The interesting dis- 
cussions of the various families, the excellent half-tones, and the six- 
teen pages of colored plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes make this sec- 
tion one of the finest popular treatments of the birds of North America 
that has appeared in some years. CGiL. FE: 
THE BurcEss Birp Book FOR CHILDREN. By Thornton W. Burgess. 
Little, Brown, and Co. $3.00. 
Tue BurGEss ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN. By Thornton W. Burgess. 
Little, Brown, and Co. $3.00. 
The problem of writing a book on birds that interests small children, 
and at the same time give them sound, reliable information has been 
well handled by Mr. Burgess in his “Bird Book for Children.” Because 
there is no method of approach to the child mind that equals the story, 
this method has been adopted, but with considerably more success than 
in the “Bed-time Story Books” by the same author. The effort to keep 
the stories within the realm of childhood probability has succeeded, 
and the result is Mr. Burgess at his best. 
The book is a series of stories, told by Peter Rabbit, Johnny Chuck, 
Striped Chipmunk, and the birds themselves. Every page is crowded 
with interesting facts of bird lore, so cleverly inserted into the con- 
versations of the woodland people that there are no formal description, 
no fine text, and no footnotes. Fifty-eight species of birds are treated 
in detail, and many others are mentioned briefly. The whole work is 
so lively, so real that few children of the ages for which it is designed 
can resist its appeal. 
The workmanship of the book deserves as much credit as the text. 
There are colored plates, from paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, of 
each of the fifty-eight species that appear most prominently in the 
book. The paper, printing, and binding are excellent, and the child who 
takes pride in a good-looking book will be satisfied by this one. 
The “Animal Book for Children” is a fit companion for the “Bird 
Book.” The same method of story-telling is employed, with quite as 
much success. The word ‘animal’ is used instead of ‘mammal,’ which has 
little meaning to the child. There are no technical terms, no descrip- 
tions of subspecies, and no classifications. The sole purpose of the book 
is to help children to gain an intimate acquaintance with the field and 
wood, mountain, and plain—the animals which are “in the truest sense 
the first citizens of America.” 
The iliustrations, again by Fuertes, are both in color and in black- 
and-white. In some cases the coloring and printing of the plates are 
faulty, and the black-and-white pictures are much the better of the 
two. The book is,.pnfortunately, a trifle smaller than its companion 
volume, but the general workmanship, is quite as good, and the binding. 
eyen more attractive—not a small consideration in the likes and dis- 
