Birds & Nature Magazine 



The Library Shelf 



By WALTER TAYLOR FIELD 



THE literature of country life, which during 

 these latter days is growing so large and so 

 persuasive, voices a distinct tendency to return to 

 nature. For years the tide of human migration has 

 been toward the cities, until we are confronted with 

 the problem of abandoned farms and crowded tene- 

 ments. Cities are known as the places where for- 

 tunes are made. The elusive hope of getting more 

 money for less work has drawn many a man away 

 from a happy and healthful life on a farm, and has 

 shut him up among brick walls, with no play- 

 ground for his children but the street and no sun- 

 shine but that w^hich struggles down a whitewashed 

 light shaft. He has lost his independence and has 

 become part of a great human machine, soulless and 

 unresponsive. 



A new book on this very practical subject, by 

 Mr. Bolton Hall, bears the suggestive title "Three 

 Acres and Liberty." It is a plea for the small 

 farm, not isolated in the remote country, but near 

 enough to the town to be on friendly terms with it, 

 and to find a market for the fruit and "garden 

 truck" which three acres will produce. It is a 

 plea for intensive farming, and is altogether as 

 sensible a presentation of the case as has yet ap- 

 peared. It is both philosophical and practical, 

 containing good economics as well as sound advice. 



^^ 



SPEAKING of gardening, one of the most artistic 

 and attractive books to the lover of gardens — 

 and who of us do not love them — is "Ye Gardeyne 

 Boke," from the press of Messrs. Paul Elder &c 

 Company. It is a volume of quotations, embrac- 

 ing the wisest and wittiest and most appreciative 

 things that have been said on this subject in all ages. 

 Miss Jennie Day Haines has selected the excerpts 

 and Mr. Spencer Wright has furnished a scheme 

 of decorative borders and title page which add 

 greatly to the attractiveness of the volume. The 

 gardens referred to extend from Eden to the present. 

 Bacon said, "God Almightie first planted a garden 

 and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures." 

 Addison believed that a garden would "fill the 

 mind with calmness and tranquility and lay all its 

 turbulent passions at rest." Spenser showed keen 

 delight in the 



"* * * walkes and alleys dight 

 With divers trees enranged in even ranks," 

 and, more recently, Tennyson celebrated with gen- 

 uine feeling "Maud's" garden, where 



"the woodbine spices are wafted abroad 

 And the musk of the rose is blown." 



^^ 



BUT perhaps the most sumptuous of the season's 

 nature books is "The Log of the Sun," a 

 beautifully illustrated volume of short essays, fifty- 

 two in number, one for each week of the year, by 

 Mr. C. William Beebe, Curator of Ornithology in 

 the New York Zoological Park. Mr. Beebe is well 

 known through his books on bird life, and his 

 articles on various phases of nature study, which 

 have appeared from time to time in the magazines. 

 (Continued on page III) 



Life & Nature Series 



We have recently begun the publication in very inex- 

 pensive form of a series of Juvenile Nature Books under 

 the title "Life and Nature Series." The cover design by 

 Hapgood is in two colors, and the books are unusually 

 attractive even at double their price. Four books in the 

 series are now ready. 



The Bee People 



By Margaret W. Morley, Author of ''Little 

 Mitchell, The Story of a Mountain Squirrel'' 



THIS book tells in a delightfullv simple and 

 dramatic manner the life story of a colony of 

 bees, and is the most famous of all Miss Morley's 

 books. The book is profusely illustrated by the 

 author. Price, 50 cents. 



Little Mitchell 



The Story of a Mountain Squirrel 

 By Margaret Morley 

 <<T ITTLE MITCHELL" was a baby squirrel 

 J— ' found by Miss Morley in a tramp up 

 Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina. The little 

 fellow was carried home in the front of her shirt- 

 waist and carefully trained. The book tells the 

 story of "Little Mitchell's" life and his tragic 

 death. Illustrated by Mr. Bruce Horsfall. the 

 famous animal artist. Price, 50 cents. 



Lady Lee, and Other Animal Stories 



By Hermon Lee Ensign 

 ''T ADY LEE" belongs in the same class with 



JL/ "Black Beauty," but is made up of short 

 stories of horses, dogs, cats, elephants and birds. 

 Mr. Ensign was for many years connected with the 

 national "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 

 Animals," and this book was written with a 

 definite purpose — the teaching of kindness and 

 consideration for dumb animals. 



There are seven full-page illustrations, besides 

 many smaller pictures. Price, 50 cents. 



Nestlings of Forest and Marsh 



By Irene Grosvenor Wheelock. 



MRS. WHEELOCK has told in "Nestlings" 

 delightful stories of the birds that live in 

 forest and marsh. The titles of some of the 

 chapters suggest the charm of the stories, "A May 

 Morning," "Jim's Babies" "A Foster Baby," 

 "Phoebes and Their Cousins," etc. Illustrated 

 with beautiful half-tones from photographs. Price, 

 45 cents. 



Other books in this series are in preparatioJi. 



Atkinson. Mentzer & Grover 



350 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. 



