BOOK NOTICES. 



The fourth annual report of the New 

 York Zoological Society is out and makes 

 a most gratifying showing of the wonder- 

 ful progress of this great work, under the 

 management of Director W. T. Hornaday. 

 The book is beautifully illustrated with 

 half tone reproductions of photos of the 

 various buildings, and of the birds and 

 mammals in the park. The frontispiece is 

 an interior view of the reptile house, one 

 of the finest and best appointed buildings 

 of its class in the world. Another note- 

 worthy picture, and one which is worth 

 $10 to any sportsman or naturalist, is that 

 shown opposite page 36. It represents a 

 group of 5 elk, 2 bulls, 2 cows and a year- 

 ling calf. There are many other fine pic- 

 tures in the volume that deserve notice, but 

 I can not spare the space here to describe 

 them. 



On pages 35 and 36 will be found a list 

 of specimens donated to the Zoological So- 

 ciety by readers of Recreation. If any 

 contributor to this group has not received 

 a copy of the report he should write Mr. 

 Hornaday for it and consult the list. The 

 Recreation series now numbers 59 speci- 

 mens, and I hope by the close of the year 

 the number will be swelled to at least 100. 



"The Amateur's. Practical Garden Book," 

 by Hunn and Bailey (Macmillan & Co., 

 N. Y.), is exactly what its title signifies, 

 and will find a welcome at the hands of 

 those who love to cultivate flowers and 

 fruits, and, who, without the time or in- 

 clination to be technical, nevertheless re- 

 quire a more or less accurate knowledge 

 as to the selection of seeds and plants, the 

 use of fertilizers, the making of hotbeds, 

 pruning, grafting and the hundred other 

 pleasant tasks so necessary to successful 

 gardening. It is a complete and interesting 

 handbook for the novice, but it is also 

 more than that ; because without professing 

 to convey any new information it actually 

 does so. There is little room for the im- 

 agination in a book of this sort, but in 

 lieu of this, one is always pleased to dis- 

 cover the personality of the writer and to 

 detect in his work something more than his 

 mere familiarity with the subject. Mr. C. 

 E. Hunn is gardener to the Horticultural 

 Department of Cornell University, and has 

 lived with plants long enough to know 

 what he talks about. Mr. Bailey has added 

 an attractive polish to the book, ?nd we 

 think the little volume will soon become 

 well thumbed. 



In a pretty pamphlet entitled "Food of 

 the Orient," Dr. Alice B. Stockham (Chi- 

 cago) wants to know how it is that the 

 people of India "feed mainly upon rice and 

 still have strength and endurance ; are not 

 only the peers of meat-feeding nations, but 

 can do even greater things than they." If 

 the doctor will prove that her premises are 

 true, we will try to find a reason why ; but 

 they are not. If they were, 60,000 English 

 in India could not rule 300,000,000 of na- 

 tives, even for 24 hours. The rice diet of 

 the Hindu makes him thin in biceps, and 

 timid in spirit. Excepting the Sikhs and 

 Rajputs, I will back a beef -eating New 

 York policeman with a night-stick against 

 anv ten rice eaters that can be found from 

 Travancore to the Terai. 



Another pamphlet by the same author, 

 entitled "Hindu Wedding Bells," contains 

 a graphic and pleasing account of a Hindu 

 betrothal in Bombay, and burns six 

 pages of incense before the marble shrine 

 of the tourist, otherwise called the Taj 

 Mehal. 



Dr. T. S. Palmer, Assistant Chief, Bio- 

 logical Survey, Agriculture Department, 

 Washington, has prepared a most complete 

 and exhaustive synopsis of laws enacted by 

 the various States and Territories for the 

 protection of birds, other than game birds. 

 For years past Dr. Palmer has been giving 

 special attention to this class of legislation, 

 as well as to that affecting game birds and 

 mammals. Every letter and every docu- 

 ment that has gone to the Agriculture De- 

 partment bearing on any such subject has 

 been referred to Palmer, and he has kept 

 careful and accurate tables, indexes and 

 synopses of all such matter. The present 

 book is the result, and is of inestimable 

 value to agriculture and to science. Any 

 one interested can get a copy of the book 

 by addressing Dr. Palmer as above. 



"Going Abroad?" by Robert Luce, is a 

 compact volume of advice, suggestions and 

 information to guide travelers in making a 

 choice of routes and in following them to 

 the best advantage. Chapters on How to 

 Travel Abroad, Bicycle Touring, Hotels 

 and Pensions, Clothing, Manners and Cus- 

 toms, The Learning of a Foreign Language. 

 etc., give wide scope and a fund of useful 

 information which is often obtained only 

 by unpleasant and costly experience. Pub- 

 lished by Robert and Linn Luce, Boston. 



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