ALL ABOUT ANIMALS. 
193 
The Children's Country Holidays Fund selects from the 780,573 children 
attending day schools, both Voluntary and Hoard, throughout the metropolis, by 
means of ladies and gentlemen working from fifty different centres, who are able 
to take a friendly interest in the children. It was established in 1884, as 
experience showed that the efforts made by |>rivate people led to a very partial 
distribution of benefits. The children are sent for a fortnight to country cottages, 
which] have been selected and are supervised by responsible friendly visitors in 
each village. There they share in the home life of the cottage, and get a far 
more close acquaintance with country objects and pursuits than they would in 
institutions. The parents are asked to contribute according to their means and 
last year paid — more than one-third o( the cost, which is under 13s. a 
head (all expenses of transit and organization included). During 1896, from all 
parts of London, 30,224 children were sent away for not less than a fortnight. 
Subscriptions should be sent to the Secretary, C. C. II. 10, Buckingham 
Street, Strand, W.C. 
ALL ABOUT ANIMALS. 
HOSE who consider the duty of Selbornians to lie in the 
1 direction of interesting the young in the wonders of 
1 creation, will find an important ally in the charming 
' series of pictures now being brought out in numbers 
by Messrs. George Newnes, Limited. It is nothing less than 
phenomenal that it should be possible to purchase twenty large 
pictures of beasts and birds, reproduced from photographs by 
Mr. Gambier Bolton and others, with suitable accompanying 
letterpress, for sixpence, or — so long as the system of “ discount 
bookselling ” remains in force — fourpence - halfpenny. We 
imagine there are few Selbornian households in which All 
About Animals is not already a welcome guest ; if such there be, 
the want should be supplied without delay. 
The book is to be completed in twelve fortnightly numbers, 
and six of these are before us. The animals chosen for illus- 
tration are not confined to those with which we are familiar, 
although these naturally occupy a prominent place. The first 
number, for example, which is in some respects the most attrac- 
tive, deals with lions, tigers and leopards ; in the second we have 
no fewer than ten representations of the elephant, not only in 
captivity over here, but at work in India — “ elephints a-pilin’ 
teak.” From these pictures children will learn more of the ap- 
pearance and habits of animals than they could do from volumes 
of descriptions. The group of Rhesus monkeys — the “ Bandar ” 
of the Hindoos, familiar to all readers of The Jungle Book — figure 
in part four, and the group of flamingoes in the same number, 
may be cited as good examples of this kind of treatment, where 
several specimens, in various characteristic attitudes, are pre- 
sented simultaneously to the eye. 
We shall probably have more to say about the book when it 
is completed ; meanwhile we would call attention to the use 
which may be made of these pictures in the way of decoration 
