BOOK NOTICES. 



A BIRD BOOK FOR THE TIMES. 



Prof. D. Lange, instructor in nature 

 study in the schools of St. Paul, has struck 

 12. During the last 3 years we have had 

 bird books a-many, but this little volume 

 is the only one which goes straight to the 

 center of the bull's-eye of Present Neces- 

 sity. It tells why birds need protection, 

 how they can be protected, how they can 

 be encouraged, and who the people are 

 who are seriously striving to save them 

 from annihilation. "Our Native Birds" is 

 a campaign document to be proud of. To 

 the author I make a profound salaam, and 

 wish the book asale of a million copies 

 every year. You have often heard of the 

 book which "meets a long-felt want." 

 Well, this is "It!" 



The moving cause of this pretty little 

 volume was Mr. Hornaday's report to the 

 New York Zoological Society on "The 

 Destruction of Our Birds and Mammals," 

 which is liberally quoted. Prof. Lange 

 takes up the subject of protection, and 

 without spending time in the gathering of 

 more statistics, he plunges at once into a 

 consideration of the methods by which 

 birds can be protected and encouraged. 

 In the most practical and common-sense 

 fashion he instructs the reader in the best 

 methods of providing trees, vines, shrubs, 

 flowers, drinking and bathing fountains, 

 dust baths, gravel and lime. One of the 

 most valuable chapters in the book is that 

 on "Feeding Birds in Winter, and in Un- 

 favorable Weather at Other Seasons." It 

 is no exaggeration to say that to millions 

 of village and country dwellers this chap- 

 ter will be a complete revelation of possi- 

 bilities heretofore unthought of. This 

 chapter alone is worth the price of the 

 whole volume. 



In order that the sympathetic reader may 

 know how to come in touch with the best 

 organizations for the protection of birds 

 and aggressive warfare on the destroyers, 

 there is given a full list of the State 

 wardens and other general officers of the 

 League of American Sportsmen, a direc- 

 tory of secretaries of the various State 

 Audubon societies, and a list of all the 

 humane societies and societies for the 

 prevention of cruelty to animals in the 

 United States and Canada. 



Any person who feels a desire to take 

 an active part in the practical protection 

 and encouragement of our birds can find 

 in this book full information as to the ways 

 and means by which he may gratify it. I 

 welcome this book because it is of practical 

 value to the birds, because it is so dif- 



ferent from other bird books, because it 

 does not waste valuable time puttering 

 over descriptions of species while all 

 species are being blown to bits by the an- 

 nihilators. Already we have a sufficiency 

 of bird books which merely describe 

 species. It is time for some of our literary 

 ornithologists to rest from writing de- 

 scriptions and go to work like men and 

 women to save the remnant of our birds 

 from extermination. It is time for men 

 like Robert Ridgeway, the official orni- 

 thologist of the United States National 

 Museum, to brush the cobwebs off them- 

 selves and make a move toward protect- 

 ing some of the birds they have spent their 

 lives in writing about. It requires no flash 

 of genius to see that to-day professional 

 ornithologists have more serious work to 

 do than to go on filling reams of white 

 paper with stale descriptions of creatures 

 that already have been described hundreds 

 of times. 



I welcome the book of Lange because 

 it is like a refreshing spring bursting forth 

 in a desert of words, words, words, about 

 our unfortunate feathered friends. 



This book can be obtained from the au- 

 thor, whose address is 937 York street, St. 

 Paul, Minn. Price $1. 



I have received a copy of the "Bird Stone 

 Ceremonial" from its author, Prof. W. K. 

 Moorehead, of Saranac Lake, N. Y. The 

 book is printed on heavy plate paper, well 

 illustrated with figures representing 53 dif- 

 ferent forms of bird or saddle-stones. 

 Prof. Moorehead is cautious in his conclu- 

 sions and while he advances several theo- 

 ries, he is not positive in his opinions. He 

 quotes all the authorities. The pamphlet is 

 15x10 inches in size, 32 pages and has a 

 colored plate. The price, 40 cents, is rea- 

 sonable. Such publications should be en- 

 couraged and it is to be hoped other bulle- 

 tins may be issued. 



"The American Salad Book," by Maxi- 

 milian de Loup, is a collection of 300 re- 

 cipes for dainty, appetizing salads, with 

 full instructions for making dressings and 

 for serving. Published by McClure, Phil- 

 lips & Co., New York; price $1. 



Patrice — Gertie had a tumble off her 

 wheel, yesterday. 



Patience — Turning her head to see what 

 another wheelwoman had on, I suppose? 



Patrice — No ; she was trying to see what 

 the wheelwoman had off. — Yonker's States- 

 man. 



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