BOOK NOTICES. 



i55 



BOOK NOTICES. 



A WARNING TO PUBLISHERS. 



Recreation has received a copy of a new 

 bird book; but to my great disappointment 

 I find in it not one line on the all important 

 subject of bird protection. The volume has 

 been returned to the author; and hereafter 

 I will not notice any bird book, save to re- 

 buke its author, which fails to call attention 

 to the urgent necessity of better protection 

 for our fast-vanishing birds. I am tired of 

 reviewing bird books written for revenue 

 only, by people who do not seem to care a 

 rap whether our birds are all exterminated 

 or not. Any ornithologist who does not 

 know that many of our finest species of birds 

 are being literally annihilated is too ignorant 

 to write about birds; and any ornithologist 

 who knows the facts and neglects to advo- 

 cate better protective measures for birds 

 should be ashamed to write at all. 



I am sick of printed cant about the study 

 of birds, from men and women who have 

 never yet lifted a finger to check the slaugh- 

 ter of the innocents that is now going on. It 

 is time to give the study of birds' names a 

 rest, and to devote some attention to meas- 

 ures for saving the birds themselves. What 

 is the matter with American ornithologists 

 that more of them do not brace up, and do 

 something worth while for the prevention 

 of bird slaughter? 



Hereafter every bird book that is pub- 

 lished in this country will receive notice from 

 Recreation according to the record of its 

 author as an active bird protectionist. It is 

 time readers were informed which of our 

 American ornithologists take an active in- 

 terest in the preservation of our birds, and 

 which do not. Of the latter, I intend pres- 

 ently to prepare and publish a list. 



•NELSON'S "REVIEW OF CHICKAMAUGA." 



My old friend, Mr. W. H. Nelson, of 

 Kensington, Md., has written a history of 

 the battle of Chickamauga, in heroic verse, 

 which is fully up to his high standard. 

 Readers of Recreation know and honor 

 him for his poems on the Spanish War, 

 which have been published in Recreation 

 during the past few months. These poems 

 place Mr. Nelson unquestionably at the head 

 of the list of living American poets, and his 

 story of Chickamauga. beside being much 

 longer and more studied, is fully equal in 

 poetic fire and dramatic realism to the poems 

 mentioned above. 



I can give no better idea, of the high char- 

 acter of " Chickamauera " than by quoting 

 the closing stanzas. These are as follows: 



Brave, patient Thomas, they who died 

 Smiled in the Angel's face with pride 



That they had died for thee ; 

 And they who lived, thine own brave band 

 Proud Army of the Cumberland, 

 Created by thy loving hand. 



Laughed with a soldier's glee, 



If they but knew thy loving eye 

 Swept o'er them as their line went by. 



They knew thy loving pride ; 

 And when that host was broken up 

 Thou left tr drain, alone, thy cup, 

 Stretching 10 ours from thy great heart, 

 And thrilling 'neath the venomed dart, 



That quivered in thy side, 

 Ran tender lines that ached and stung 

 With every pain thy bosom wrung, 



And felt it as our own. 

 We're jealous for thee, loving chief, 

 We will not even share our grief 

 But hoard it with the proud belief 



That this to thee is known. 



Immortal Chief ! our love we pay, 

 Our tears we pour, our prayers we pray 

 Knowing that o'er no common clay 



Is our devotion shown; 

 As we, long since, were wholly thine, 

 When blood was our communion wine 

 And Death was our High Priest divine 



So Thou art all olr own. 



Long five and thirty years are past 

 Since that September, sighing, cast 



O'er Blue and Gray her leaves ; 

 The Cause which fired opposing ranks 

 And crimsoned Chickamauga's banks 



Sleeps in their silent graves. 



A thousand years shall come and go, 

 A thousand mild Septembers glow 



And their soft radiance shed, 

 But o'er these graves one flag shall fly, 

 Its glories striped against the sky, 

 Its gleaming stars set proud and high 



Above these hallowed Dead. 



Chickamauga; published by the author, 

 W. H. Nelson, Kensington, Md., price, 50 

 cents. 



A TROUTLESS TROUT BOOK. 



A book of 272 pages, and many illustra- 

 tions, on " The Trout," but without even 

 one picture of the fish other than a trifling 

 vignette on the title page, is a decided novel- 

 ty in bookmaking. It is also evidence of 

 inexcusable blundering on the part of some 

 one. There are 6 full-page plates of men 

 on the banks of trout streams, doing various 

 things, any 2 of which I would willingly 

 exchange for one good representation of 

 Salmo fario. The picture on page 15, en- 

 titled, " A Difficult Stalk," and showing a 

 man on his stomach " stalking " a trout, 

 surely will cause every big-game hunter to 

 smile. 



While this very attractive book is a sin- 

 cere attempt to do justice to the British 

 trout, it is an insufficient specimen of book- 

 making. Without the slightest introduction 

 to the species treated of, the Marquis of 

 Granby leads off with a long, rambling dis- 

 course on " Trout Fishing," which oc- 

 cupies 140 pages. Then Colonel F. H. Cus- 

 tance follows with 104 pages on " Trout 

 Breeding," and it is not until we reach page 

 237 that we are told precisely what fish is 

 being treated of, and what are its nearest 

 allies. The real value of the book lies in 

 these chapters, which contain much valu- 

 able information. 



The 27 pages filled by Mr. Shand on 

 " The Cookery of the Trout," doubtless will 

 be valued by some readers, but I fancy their 



