BOOK NOTICES. 



161 



BOOK NOTICES. 



MRS. WRIGHT'S OTHER BIRD BOOK. 



The new edition of Mrs. Mabel Osgood 

 Wright's " Birdcraft " comes to me en- 

 larged, improved, and fairly beaming with 

 the joy of assured success. As one turns 

 through this fine specimen of book-mak- 

 ing, it is quickly apparent that in its pro- 

 duction the author, the artist, and the pub- 

 lishers have all done their " level best." 

 I am glad The Macmillan Company is en- 

 tering, with so much spirit, into the pro- 

 duction of first-class books on popular 

 natural history, and that the pace they are 

 setting for their rivals is so decidedly hot. 

 Lucky indeed are the nature lovers of to- 

 day that they are furnished, at merely 

 trifling prices, such charming bird books as 

 this, and others recently noticed in Rec- 

 reation. 



" Citizen Bird " was distinctly a book for 

 young people; but this is for grown folks 

 and children to share, between them. In 

 this volume Mr. Fuertes' illustrations are 

 about twice as large as in the other, and 

 at least 4 times as good. Unquestionably, 

 they are fine. The rendering (in black and 

 white) of the various colors of birds, some- 

 times to the extent of 4 or 5 on a single 

 subject, yet without losing the contours of 

 the specimens, is really wonderful. Con- 

 sidering the excellence of the figures gener- 

 ally, I am led to wonder why the Yellow- 

 Billed Cuckoo should be so hopelessly flat; 

 but when we turn 2 leaves, and are greeted 

 by our saucy old friend, the Belted King- 

 fisher, who actually looks blue and white, 

 we quickly forget the other. What a queer 

 plate is that of the Crossbill! At first we 

 'see a double-headed bird, with the 2 halves 

 perfectly, and even artistically joined to- 

 gether amidships; but on close inspection 

 we see that 2 complete birds are intended. 



As a test of Mrs. Wright's descriptions, 

 I took a warbler, which I could not name 

 at sight, and attempted to identify it by 

 means of the key. I did not get on so suc- 

 cessfully as I expected. The result proved 

 that, for my use, the descriptions provided 

 to facilitate the identification of unknown 

 species are rather brief, and are too general 

 in their terms. It is a serious task to pro- 

 vide a key to birds that will really unlock 

 unknown species. But in justice to the 

 author it should be said that for all save a 

 comparatively few of our birds, her key and 

 descriptions will be found quite sufficient. 



I notice that our old friend, the robin, is 

 classed with the " Birds Conspicuously Red 

 or Orange; " and his nearest neighbors are 

 the Redstart and the Scarlet Tanager! This 

 will never do. The breast of the Robin is 

 as pure a brown as Van Dyck himself ever 

 mixed. 



Why do I mention so small a slip of the 

 eye and the pen, combined? Simply be- 



cause womankind is so prone to flout the 

 color-judgment of men; and this chance 

 is too good to be lost. Nevertheless, I 

 heartily welcome the new edition of Bird- 

 craft, and commend it to my readers; both 

 for its beauty and its worth. 



Birdcraft: A Field-Book of Two Hun- 

 dred Song, Game and Water Birds, By 

 Mabel Osgood Wright; with 80 full page 

 plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. New 

 York. The Macmillan Company, 1897, 

 8vo., pp. xvi. — 317. $2.50. 



Paul Kester's new book, " Tales of the 

 Real Gypsy," was scarcely dry from the 

 press when the first edition was sold out. 



The gypsies go about the country so 

 quietly and independently that we do not 

 realize how little we know of them until 

 some one reminds us. Mr. Kester is their 

 friend, and as such he writes of them, with 

 a charm that sinks deep into the heart. 

 The noise and turmoil and distress of a 

 busy, grinding, heartless world are shut 

 out and forgotten in the joy of sunlight, 

 of freedom, of the sound of the night wind, 

 the call of the whip-poor-will, the voice of 

 Nature talking with her children. The 

 gypsy foregoes houses and lands, wealth 

 and position, luxury and fame, to feel the 

 dust of the road beneath his feet, to sleep 

 near the brown earth, to lie in the sun, to 

 breathe the air of boundless freedom, and 

 to call no man master. He pities and de- 

 spises the poor Gorgios, who shut them- 

 selves within walls and barter all the joys 

 of life for gold. 



Of these traits and more, Mr. Kester 

 tells delightfully. 



There is one black night when murder 

 fastens its fangs in a woman's throat, and 

 we are glad to escape from the recital of 

 that tale into the sunlight again; but the 

 murder is of, not by, a Romany, for the 

 gypsy is not criminal. He knows more 

 about a horse than a Gorgio knows, and is 

 deft at lifting a chicken from its roost on 

 a dark night. What would you? A man 

 with a family to support must be clever at 

 something. Beyond these trifling lapses 

 from our narrow code, the Romany rye is 

 moral. We are glad to be assured of this, 

 remembering Quasimodo and Esmeralda: 

 glad to follow the gay vans down the road; 

 to learn bits of the quaint Romany lan- 

 guage, and to touch hands, in this end of 

 an unromantic century, with the most ro- 

 mantic people the world has ever known. 



Published by Doubleday & McClure. 

 Price $1. 



Doubleday and McClure Co. will give 

 the paper-covered books a hard blow, and 

 will endear themselves to all lovers of liter- 

 ature by one of their latest ideas. They are 

 publishing some of the best things ever 



