no 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



pleasure that the book is by far the most comprehensive document on 

 the parks available to the public; that Mr. Yard has brought to the 

 writing, of it a genuine enthusiasm and love for the parks ; and that 

 thousands of visitors will gain from it an enjoyment and profit that 

 otherwise they might never have known. M. R. P. 



The Book The impression left by this book of random nature 

 OF A sketches is like that of fireside hours spent with a man 



Naturalist* at once a naturalist and a delightful companion. Mr. 



Hudson lets his memory drift back into the years, bring- 

 ing to light anecdotes covering a wide range of subjects — the wild 

 horse of the pampas, trained to domestic uses but still restless with the 

 call of the wild; the whimsical guanaco, sportively running away with 

 his master's only available shirt; the wile and guile of serpents and 

 man's superstitions thereon; the heron as a table bird; the social life 

 of rooks; the gypsy charm of foxes. Mr. Hudson is a sentimentalist 

 self-confessed and unashamed. The daily life of wild creatures con- 

 cerns him most. He has a friendship for all forms of life and loves to 

 "converse with wild animals." However the scientist may regard this 

 form of nature study, there is no doubt that Mr. Hudson has the gift 

 of fascinating the average reader. Apart from his charm of style and 

 the interest of his narratives, the book will appeal strongly to all lovers 

 of animal life who believe that, contrary to the adage, a bird in the bush 

 is infinitely more worth studying than two little mummies in hand in 

 the museum. M. R. P. 



California Mr. J. Smeaton Chase is the author of two earlier volumes 

 Desert entitled "Yosemite Trails" and "California Coast Trails." 

 TRAiLSf The present volume gives the effect of having been written 

 to order, for the purpose of completing a series. The author 

 made a journey to the desert — "two years continuous camping and 

 traveling," he states — and in this book records his impressions. There 

 is a vast amount of detail, and an interesting narrative withal, of what 

 the author did, what his horse did, what various and sundry Indians 

 and other inhabitants did and said. Every milestone of his progress, 

 so to speak, the author carefully describes, every animal and plant (the 

 latter carefully supported by their botanical names in italics) — and yet 

 the book falls short of doing the desert justice. There is too much of 

 the unessential, carefully written down at length. The effect is some- 

 what that of another traveler who was unable to see the forest because 

 of the trees. 



*The Book of a Naturalist. By W. H. Hudson. George H. Doran Company, 

 New York. Pages, 360. Price, $3.50 net. 



^California Desert Trails. By J. Smeaton Chase. Houghton Mifflin Company, 

 Boston and New York. Price, $3.00 net. 



