NATURE NOTES. 
2 
individual influence, organisation of branches, pressure brought 
to bear on public bodies, distribution of leaflets, delivering of 
lectures and such like ; but we shall now only dwell upon one of 
them — the literary work done for the Society, either by means 
of books published by its members, or by the setting forth of its 
views in Nature Notes, the Selborne Society’s magazine. 
It is worth while to enumerate some of the books by 
Selbornians that have appeared during the year, dealing with 
some branch of natural history, or some aspect of natural 
beauty. We will take them, so far as possible, in the order in 
which they appeared. 
Lady Lindsay’s delightful book About Robins came early in 
the year, and was soon succeeded by the seventh edition of the 
well-known Days and Hours in a Garden, by E. V. B. (the Hon. 
Mrs. R. C. Boyle), one of the most ardent supporters of the 
Selborne Society’s crusade against cruelty and waste. Wayside 
Sketches, by Prof. F. E. Hulme — a good example of the excellent 
works issued by the S.P.C.K. — was recommended in the pages of 
Nature Notes as a “ manual of Selbornian principles.” The 
appearance of the third edition of Mr. W. Warde Fowler’s 
Year with the Birds showed how much approval had been won 
by this work of a most minute observer and reverent student of 
nature. Dr. Buckton, F.R.S., during the year has brought out 
in parts the first volume of his splendidly illustrated monograph 
on The British Cicada, and Dr. F. N. Williams has added more 
than one volume to the series in which he is describing, with 
admirable precision, The Pinks of Europe. 
Probably the most popular work on natural history of the year 
was Mrs. Brightwen’s Wild Nature won by Kindness, which almost 
immediately reached a second edition. As Mrs. Brightwen, 
upon her title page, referred to her connection with the Selborne 
Society, that Society came in for a share of the pleasant things 
which were said in the innumerable articles and reviews of 
which Wild Nature formed the theme. At the very end of the 
year there issued from the press a work by another of our vice- 
presidents, Mr. Edmund Gosse, who is already well known as 
a poet and a critic, and has now proved himself a most com- 
petent writer of biography in the life of his father, the eminent 
naturalist, Mr. P. H. Gosse. Most of the works mentioned 
above have been reviewed in our columns, and we hope as soon 
as possible to notice those which remain. 
In the number of Nature Notes for January, 1890, we gave a 
sketch of the various subjects with which we purposed dealing 
in the year which has just closed. In many quarters “ Our 
Programme ” was considered too ambitious, and doubts were 
expressed as to the possibility of carrying out so comprehensive 
a scheme. We wish accordingly to give some account of our 
literary stewardship, so that our readers may see how far our 
promises have been fulfilled, and that we may express our hearty 
thanks to the contributors who have made our task so light. 
