SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
37 
showing at a glance the (li>lril)ution of certain creatures, as well as hy numerous 
other pictures ; the latter is devoted to the animals and birds with which we are 
familiar at home. 
Mrs. Tifpoo 7 'ih (S. I’.C. K.), by Edith 1 ’. I'helps (price 91I.) is a bright 
little book, which should obtain favour among the defenders of ihe sparrow, to 
which race .Mrs. Tippoo Tib belonged. Other pet birds are described— starlings 
and jackdaws — ami the little volume is illustrated by Mr. Harrison Weir, 
who also beautities most of the “Animal Life Readers.” If the children of the 
present day are not imbued with a due interest in natural history, it certainly will 
not be for want of suitable literature. 
That old favourite, Reynard the Fox, finds elegant presentment in the latest 
addition to Messrs. Macmillan’s “Cranford Series” (6s.). Isegrim the Wolf, 
Tibert the Cat, Kyward the Hare, and all the fraternity, are brought before our 
eyes in the clever illustrations of Mr. W. Frank Calderon ; and Mr. Joseph 
Jacobs contributes an introduction which is not too learned to be readable. The 
cunning Reynard seems to have appealed to the medieval tuind (for Mr. Jacobs 
takes him back to the twelfth century) on the same grounds on which the equally 
unprincipled Brer Rabbit has charmed modern readers — the trium])h of cunning 
over brute force. The career of each “is a long series of making fools of his 
enemy, and to the primitive mind the ‘sell’ is the most exquisite form of 
practical wit.” So Mr. Jacobs ; and the high favour in which Brer Rabbit is held 
in many circles nowadays suggests that it is not only “ the primitive mind ” that 
delights in a “sell.” Mr. Jacobs traces the various folk tales which are woven 
into the connected tale, and incidentally points out that the story of the Wolf being 
induced to fish with his tail and getting it (rozen in the ice, with which we are 
familiar in many variants — there are a hundred and seventy-one of them, .Mr. 
Jacobs tells us — first made its appearance in literature in this story, though as a 
folk-tale it must be much older. 
Mr. J. J. Sowerby’s Rooks and their A'eighbottrs (Gay and Bird) is more 
widely leaded than any book we remember to have seen. The letterpress seems 
to have been expanded in this way to make room for the illustrations (also by 
the author), some of which are admirable, while all of them show originality. 
The author modestly disclaims value for his book either from a scientific or popular 
natural history standpoint ; “ it is merely,” he says, “ some desultory gossip about 
‘Rooks and their Neighbours. ’” All the same it is very interesting ; and when 
this handsome issue is exhausted, an edition in cheaper form, with a selection of 
the illustrations, would probably have a considerable sale. We hope Mr. Sowerby 
will give us more work of this kind, and that he will not fail to illustrate his future 
writings in the same way. The children on p. 103 show one direction in which 
his talents do not lie, and the last picture is spoilt in the printing or otherwise. 
It appears from the excellent bibliography which accompanies all Messrs. 
Macmillan’s standard works, that this charming pocket edition of Chas. Kingsley’s 
ffat'tfr represents the twenty-first printing of the bi'Ok, which first made 
its appearance — it does not seem so long ago — in 1S63. One wonders, therefore, 
where the readers of this new issue are to come from. There must, however, 
be many who will be glad to obtain for eighteenpence what has hitherto been 
priced at more than double that sum. The Water Babies is among the books 
which one is tempted to wish one had never read, in order to have the pleasure 
of doing so now for the first time. We hope that Tom and Elbe will find many- 
new' friends among the rising generation, and that the wise teachings of Mrs. 
Do-as-you-would-be-done-by will fall upon receptive ears. 
We had marked several passages in the December number of A Beautiful 
World — the journal which the Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising 
generously sends to its members — but space (or the want of it) prevents their 
insertion. We are glad to see that Nature Notes is quoted with approval ; 
Selbornians have so much in common with the Society for Checking, &c., that 
we trust many of their number will send the modest subscription demanded — half- 
a-crown — to its hon. treasurer, John Richmond, Esq., 7, Great College Street, 
Westminster, S.W., and so secure for themselves A Beautiful World as it appears. 
