12 
NATURE NOTES 
they can possibly be acquainted with ” ; and certainly he is able to give a very 
good account, both pictorially and otherwise, of the birds of Stretford, near 
Manchester, between September, 1902, and September, 1903, with a June 
divagation into Anglesey and Puffin Island. The Index includes the names of 
ninety species upon which observations are recorded, and these observations, if 
not very novel, have the advantages of having been made at first-hand, and of 
being set forth in simple pleasant language ; whilst the seventy or more photo- 
graphic illustrations maintain an unusually high standard of excellence in books 
of this class. We cannot refrain from adding a word of praise for the publisher, 
who, while giving us a tasteful cover and excellent typography, by only using 
plate paper for the plates, has produced a library volume that can be held com- 
fortably in one hand. O si sic omnia ! 
The Story without an End. P'rom the German of Carov^, by Sarah Austin. 
Illustrated by Paul Henry. Duckworth & Co. Price is. 6d. 
This dainty little edition of what we may fairly term a German classic trans- 
lated into the purest of English by Mrs. Austin, affords an admirable test and 
incitement of the poetic instinct of a child when brought in contact with Nature. 
In an age of materialistic realism, we believe such a stimulus to the subjective 
appreciation of Nature to have a high value in spiritual education. 
The Hygiene of Bird Keeping. By W. G. Creswell, M.D. Kingston-on-Thames, 
R. G. Clement. Price is. net. 
This pamphlet of 32 pages, • illustrated with views of the author’s aviaries, 
is based upon articles contributed to Bird Notes and the Feathered World. It is 
a thoroughly practical discussion of the conditions requisite for the health of 
cage-birds, advocating outdoor aviaries, constant clean baths and strict cleanliness, 
the avoidance of egg food as productive of septic fever, and the use of seeds, 
gentles, mealworms, house-flies, and a mixture of biscuit, dried water-bugs and 
dried ant-cocoons, according to the class of bird concerned. We recommend all 
bird-fanciers to obtain a copy and study it carefully. 
Philips' Nature Study Draining Books : Leaves, Flowers, Fruit. By A. F. 
Lydon. George Philip & Son. Price 3d. net each. 
It was perhaps inevitable that the publisher should see only in the new 
school method known as Nature-study a new subject for which cheap class-books 
were to be provided. These books of drawing copies are the pernicious 
result of this misconception. The drawings are not bad, though the colouring is 
atrocious ; but the whole principle is wrong, flat and somewhat conventionalised 
drawings taking the place of the real objects and a partially sketched-in 
outline being provided for filling-in. This is not Nature-study, but drawing 
badly taught. 
The Totnesian : the Alagazine of King Edward VI. Grammar School, Totnes. 
Vol. viii>^ Minimum subscription, is. 6d. (three numbers). 
Fortunate are the boys whose school lot is cast at Totnes Grammar School. 
In one of the most beautiful parts of England, at the head of the navigation 
of “the English Rhine,” in a quaint old walled town of fabulous antiquity, 
celebrated to day for cyiler and for toffee, they are surrounded by every interest 
that should delight a healthy, well brought-up boy. The quarries that yield the 
marbles of Torquay, Ipplepen, and Ashburton are but the practical side of a 
geological complex that has taxed the powers of the most astute : fern-decked 
lane, lichen-hung trees and the bogs and heaths of Dartmoor afford ample field 
for the botanist; and the standing stones, hut-circles and crosses of the moor, 
such lovely ruins as Berry Pomeroy and Dartington, with their associations 
with .Seymours, Champernownes and Eroudes, or the Benedictine screens of 
Harberton, Dartmouth or Totnes itself, are but a few of the attractions for the 
archmologist and the photographer. The school has an excellent little magazine 
issued terminally, and its Natural History Society is affiliated to the Selliorne 
Society as a Junior Branch. 
