II2 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
Nature's Story of the Year. By Charles A. Witchell. Illustrated. T. Fisher 
Unwin. Price 5s. 
Mr. Witchell is w'ell known as a careful observer of bird-life ; and though 
reptiles, insects and field-mice come in for some notice in these pleasantly written 
pages, birds furnish their main topic. Many of the illustrations are very pielty, 
especially Miss Witchell’s frontispiece of a kestrel ; but we cannot help thinking 
that of “ A Wind-twisted Tree,” on p. 16, is somewhat misleading, since, though 
the one-sided growth of its branches may have been due to wind, the spiral twist 
of its bark— it is, we presume, a Spanish Chestnut — is not so caused. Though 
there is nothing particularly startling or novel in Mr. Witchell’s work, it affords a 
pleasant series of chapters to read month by month. 
The Field Naturalist'' s Handbook. By the late Rev. J. G. Wood and the Rev. 
Theodore Wood. Cassell and Co. Price is. in paper covers, is. 6d. cloth. 
The title of this manual is somewhat too comprehensive. It consists of lists of 
the flowering plants, ferns and Lepidoptera to be found in Britain in each month 
of the year with their scientific names, and in the case of the former their 
“localities” (i.e., general habitat) and duration, and in that of the latter their 
food-plants and the month in which ova, larvie, or pupa, may be found. To 
these lists are added a general list of Lepidoptera, with hints on their capture and 
preservation w’hen caught, and a list of British birds, with iheir stay in Fngland 
and the average number of their eggs. There is not, of course, space for any 
de.scriptions, the nomenclature is somewhat old-fashioned, and in what is neces- 
sarily a compilation som6 misstatements — such as that Thlaspi perfoliatu 7 n occurs 
in pastures or in Oxfordshire — naturally occur ; but the collector will certainly 
find the book useful as a suggestion of what to look for. There are, unfortunately, 
not a few mispfmts among the botanical names. 
Eyes attd No Eyes. By Arabella B. Buckley (Mrs. Fisher). With 48 coloured 
plates and other illustrations. Cassell and Co. Price 3s. 6d. 
The six little books here bound together, but retaining their original pagina- 
tions, though with a general table of contents prefixed, are admirably adapted to 
their purpose, viz., to interest children in country life. “They are written,” 
says the authoress, “ in the simplest language, so as to be fit for each class to read 
aloud. But the information given in them requires explanation and illustration 
by the teacher.” Wide as is her range of subjects, Mrs. P'isher has the rare 
faculty of being at once lucid and accurate. .Spiders, squirrels, ants, frogs, 
sticklebacks, common plants, trees, birds and insects, are all discussed in turn, 
so that a counir)’ school has here ample material for at least eighty le.ssons so 
varied that they are not likely to pall. If we have any fault to find with the 
method it is that it is, if anything, too informing, i.e., not sufficiently heuristic. 
The illustrations are useful and accurate, though personally we should have 
preferred Mr. Muckley’s plates uncoloured ; but the monochromatic plant on 
the cover is quite outside our botanical knowledge. 
The Frank Buck I and Reader : Selected Readings from the “ Curiosities of 
Natural History.” By Francis T. Buckland. With 74 illustrations. Rout- 
ledge and .Sons. Price is. 6d. 
It was a good idea to make a selection from Frank Buckland’s “ Curiosities” 
into a “ Reader.” Boys are sure to like his genial accounts of the animals with 
which he as.sociated on such intimate terms. A hunt in a horse-pond, rats, 
snakes, fish and fishing, his monkey Jacko, and the gamekeeper’s museum are 
among the topics selected. The illustrations are mostly old stagers ; but the 
book is well printed and strongly bound, and the notes are usefully explanatory. 
Why, however, perpetuate the calumny on Queen Eleanor as to her poisoning 
Fair Rosamund ? 
Ludgate Nature- Study Readers. In three books. Erlited by John C. Medd, M.A. 
Routledge and Sons. Price is. and is. 3d. 
In print and binding these three “Readers” are uniform with the one just 
noticed, and many of tire illustrations are no newer ; but they have been more 
