12 
NATURE NOTES 
The Faery Year. By G. A. Dewar. 6 inches x 8f inches, 317 pages, 8 
illustrations. Alston Rivers. Price 7s. 66 . 
Mr. Dewar is a word painter and at times he almost takes our breath away, 
as, for instance, in these lines from his preface in which he sums up an English 
Year. 
“ It i.s truly a faery procession that appeals to us when we review even a few of the things 
which make up the year of Nature, a wonderful charm of birds, butterflies, stars, clouds, 
woods, and waters. At random I recall a few now ; first, at the acme of the year, days of great 
June with its clouds of endless forms and phantasies, wisp, stipple and fleece of cirrus and 
cirro-stratus, snow mountains of cumulus ; July with sorceries of silence and the scented breath 
of its eve, with its strange dance of ghost moths at dusk, when Capella is flashing intensely out 
of the afterglow and the gold taper of Mars is alight in the awful blue. .August knee.deep in the 
copse grasses, with yellow-hammer days. Autumn with its golden. haired larches. Winter with 
a wine. coloured withy wood by the estuary, and the ghost.like earth- cloud stratus, creeping over 
the darkening marsh or heath ; and at the same seasons the whirling columns of winter gnats 
and the glittering gossamer weighted with rainbow dewdrops. Then there is the faery year 
of our English birds, spiral evolution of linnets in the frosty skies, loop of the rooks going home 
to rest, a flock of starlings in autumn black-budding the ash tree a field away, swan angel 
white dipt out on the leaden lake, thrushes singing like mad in the grey stormy March 
dawn. 
“ Year after year, the beauty and wonder repeated, but year after year, countless sights and 
sounds noticed for the first time in our lives; this is the experience of everj'body who 
attends to Nature. It is thisi ncessant pre.ss of new things which makes the study of Nature at 
times something of a despair, so much to see, such a little time to see it ! ” 
Nevertheless he writes of things he evidently loves and knows, and about which 
he holds opinions which are all the more valuable because they are not always 
those which are current among naturalists. Those interested in Nature Study, 
as well as those who like good writing, will appreciate the book, and everyone 
should take to heart the concluding words of the preface which we print in italic 
type. 
It IS very valuable to recognise to our utmost capacity the beauty and wonder 
of Nature. This is far from being a matter of mere '^sentiment," it is of high 
practical importance f for the right enjoyment and study of these things must make 
men and women happier, completer in understanding and taste and eye, and there- 
fore better members of the State. 
The subject matter is very varied. On the third page we find the heading 
“ Selborne and White,” under which Mr. Dewar says that physically Selborne 
can hardly have changed since White’s day, though he fears that it is lather 
different with the village. Later on we meet with a host of interesting sub- 
jects from the “ oxeye’s vocabulary” to a “poacher in petticoats,” and the 
“ fritillary’s flirtation,” to the “cat as a mesmeriser.” 
A Picture Book of Evolution. Part 1 . containing Lessons from Astronomy, 
Geology, Zoology. By Denis Ilird. 5^ inches x 8J inches, 200 pages, 182 
figures. Watts and Co. Brice 2s. 6d. net. 
In the introduction of this little volume we are asked to bear distinctly in 
mind that it is intended for those who have not read any statement of the doc- 
trines of evolution. It is, in fact, “ a first book for young people, and those 
who have not much lime to read.” We may say that it seems admirably suited 
to its purpose, and that the illustrations taken from many celebrated sources are 
quite numerous enough to warrant its title. The simple instances of evolution 
among ordinary things are very much to the point, and it will surprise some to 
learn that a rifle and a piano have a common ancestor. The brief accounts of 
Astronomy and Geology pave the way to Zoology and the evolution of man. In 
the letterpress the fact that man has not developed from any existing species of 
animals is brought out, but the monkeys shown in the interesting figure at the 
end of the book, entitled “from Lemur to Cicero,” might, perhaps, give that 
impression. They are the types that most nearly approach the stages through 
which man has passed (see figure 7). 
We look forward to the appearance of the second volume. 
