Reviews and Book Notices. 



?75 



a single rope, a thing never dreamt of now. The chmbing is 

 getting reduced to an exact science, more gear and more help 

 being nsed than in the old da^'s, when a man trusted more 

 to his own strength and agility. 



The old man possessed an imperturbable good temper, with 

 a quiet dry humour, and a dialect of the past centuries, which 

 made him an entertaining raconteur ; and though his narratives 

 were perhaps somewhat overdrawn where the first person 

 singular was concerned, who shall grudge him the enlarged 

 perspective with which old age \dews its younger exploits ? 

 His death removes a notable landmark from the ranks of the 

 cHmmers. 



' Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 

 Their homely joys and destiny obscure ; 

 Xor grandeur hear \\-ith a disdainful smile 

 The short and simple annals of the poor.' 



E. W. W. 







Consider the Butterflies How they Grow, by L. P. Stubbs. Elhot Stock. 

 62 pp. Judging from the title of this book, its price, its frequent references 

 to the Holy Scriptures, and the texts written here and there, it is evidently 

 intended as a Sunday School prize, though the ' butterfly ' on the cover is 

 surely very difierent from anything in the heaven above, in the earth 

 beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Mr. Stubbs' narrative of the 

 life of a butterfi^^ is interspersed with poems about the Xettle's lament over 

 a chrysalis, the Xettle's surprise, Butterfl.3- on wing recognises Xettle^ 

 Xettle recognising Butterfly in the air, etc., which, however, ' readers of a 

 strictly scientilic taste may omit,' as he also may the message to King 

 Htzekiah, King Da\'id's sigh, the address of Jehovah to the patriarch, etc. 



For a somewhat similar purpose we presume Nature, by J. H. Crawford 

 (Swan, Sonnenschien Sc Co., 5 '-) has been published. It is illustrated 

 by all sorts and sizes of blocks, and deals ^,\ith ' Sunlight in Strange Places '; 

 ' The Library- and the Press ' ; ' Atmosphere in the Schools ' ; ' St. Valen- 

 tines ' ; ' Xature's Easter ' ; ' Madonna of the Pastures ' ; ' Midsummer 

 Afternoon,' etc., etc. We should also like to congratulate the publishers 

 on possessing the biggest and messiest rubber stamp with ' presentation 

 copy ' upon it, that we have seen. It would have looked better if it had 

 not been placed diagonally across the title page, though possibly its size 

 necessitated this. 



The Manchester University Press has published Birds Useful and Birds 

 Harmful (6 -), by Otto Herman and J. A. Owen, both well-known scientific 

 writers, and not of the talk-about-nothing style, which is becoming so 

 common a feature with ornithological books now-a-days. In its original 

 form the present work was prepared by Mr. Herman at the request of the 

 Minister for Agriculture in Hungar\-, for the guidance of farmers, fruit- 

 growers and gardeners. The mass of useful information it contains, 

 however, will appeal to many others besides these ; and a perusal of the 

 work will surely do much to prevent the slaughter amongst our useful 

 birds which is continually going on. Would that it were possible to place 

 this book in the hands of ever}- gamekeeper in this country, and make him 

 read it ! The volume also has useful chapters on bird structure, bird 

 protection, nesting-boxes, etc. 



1909 Nov. I. 



