'4 
NATURE NOTES 
lines comes perilously near the fault of “ fine writing,” “ purple 
patches ” almost Meredithian in obscurity ; but this is but a 
momentary aberration. It may be urged against his work, as it 
was against Landseer’s pictures, that he deliberately endows his 
animals with human characteristics ; but, if he does so, it is only 
because, in his personal intercourse with the animals, he has 
convinced himself that these characteristics are common to man 
and beast. He admits that each of his stories illustrates some 
one animal virtue, if we may be allowed the word ; and that in 
several cases he has combined incidents in the lives of several 
different beasts ; and yet by his happy power of individual 
portraiture he certainly succeeds both in interesting and in 
instructing us better than the authors of either of the other 
works which we have coupled with his. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
To-day with Nature. By E. Kay Robinson. Grant Richards. Price 6s. 
This neat and handy little volume consists of reprints from To-day, of notes 
from the diary of a true lover of Nature. The notes are mostly brief and the 
transitions abrupt, but we think the author has been ill-advised in adding to this 
disjointed appearance by inserting head-lines in the style of “ the new journalism.” 
Though mainly ornithological, the notes have a wide range, they embody much 
original observation and thought, with some playfulness of expression, and the 
importance is not to be measured by their brevity. Though containing over 300 
pages, the volume might form an agreeable pocket companion on a country 
walk. 
Strange Adventures in Dicky-bird Land: Stories told by Mother Birds to Amuse 
their Chicks, and Overheard \yj R. Kearton. Illustrated from photos taken 
direct from Nature. Me.ssrs. Cassell and Co. Price 3s. 6d. 
It was a happy thought of the brothers Keaiton to link together a series of 
photographs, mostly of nests and fledglings, into twenty simple tales for 
children. Though mostly avian, the photographs include charming studies of a 
cat, a fox-cub, a frog and a trout ; the type is large and clear, the language so 
simple that children can read the book for themselves, and above all, it is satis- 
factory to know that a thorough .Selbornian humanity is inculcated throughout. 
Optical Lanterns and Accessories ; How to Alake and Manage Them, including 
Instructions on Making Slides. With numerous engravings and diagrams. 
Edited by Paul N. Ilasluck. Messrs. Cassell and Co. Price is. 
Photographic Cameras and Accessories. Same editor, publishers and price. 
These eminently practical little handbooks, carefully condensed by the editor 
from the many columns of matter bearing on their subjects in the pages of IVork, 
will be of the utmost use to any of the numerous handy men” who are given 
to construct their own apparatus. Even cinematograph lanterns, spring and 
pneumatic release, time and instantaneous shutters, ana tripod-stands, are included 
in their scope. 
Received : — The Victorian Naturalist for October ; Humanity, Science 
Gossip, The Naturalist, The Naturalists’ Journal, The Irish Naturalist and 
The Animal World for December. 
