This is mainly a book about the birds, or more properly an invitation to the study of Ornithology.... I have reaped my harvest more in the woods than in the study; what I offer, in fact, is a careful and conscientious record of actual observations and experiences, and is true as it stands written, every word of it.... A more specific title for the volume would have suited me better, but not being able to satisfy myself in this direction, I cast about for a word thoroughly in the atmosphere and spirit of the book, which I hope I have found in "Wake-Robin"--the common name of the white Trillium, which blooms in all our woods, and which marks the arrival of all the birds.--Preface.

The titles of some of the different articles are: In the Hemlocks, The Adirondacks, Spring at the Capital, and The Bluebird.

Mr. Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles in the New York Zoölogical Park, gives us a comprehensive treatise on the structure and habits of the turtles, tortoises, crocodilians, lizards, and snakes, of the United States and Northern Mexico. There are eight pages of plates in color and one hundred and twenty-eight in black and white, from photographs from life, taken (with six exceptions) by the Author.

In the present work the writer has sought to compile a popular review of a great fauna--the Reptiles of North America. He has excluded technical phraseology and tried to produce two results: 1. A popular book, that may be comprehended by the beginner and, 2. A book valuable in its details to the technical worker.--Preface.

This rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds, and flowers, is made attractive to young children by the unusual quality of the many illustrations.

It has been the aim of the author to give reliable information free from minute details and technicalities. That information has been, for the most part, gathered through personal experience in the mines.--Preface.

The composition and formation of coal, its discovery and introduction, are dealt with, and a description of the mine and its dangers, and the life of the workers therein, is given in this thoroughly satisfactory little volume.

Treated from a broad scientific standpoint, much interesting information is conveyed about the laws which, discovered comparatively recently, have proved of vital importance and utility to mankind. The humidity and pressure of the air, the velocity of the wind, rain and snow, sleet and hail-storms, tornadoes and cyclones, are among the many topics discussed.

An intelligent boy or girl of fourteen, with a real interest in the subject, will enjoy this fine work on the moths of North America north of Mexico, though it is written more from the standpoint of the student than are most of the series to which it belongs. There are fifteen hundred figures in the forty-eight colored plates, and three hundred black and white text figures, illustrating a majority of the larger species.

These two distinguished scientists have given in this treatise on ichthyology a popular account of the species found in America north of the Equator, with keys for ready identification, life-histories, and methods of capture. There are ten lithographed plates in color, and sixty-four in black and white from photographs from life taken by Mr. Dugmore, these being the first really successful photographs of live fish ever secured.

A guide to the identification of the trees of the United States, with three hundred and forty illustrations, more than half of them from photographs. The book is the work of one who is a tree-lover as well as a botanist, and besides being scientifically accurate the book has a distinct literary flavor. Invaluable as an aid to firsthand acquaintance with the trees.--Prentice and Power.

The volume is not too large to be easily carried while walking.

The object of this book is to tell some of the interesting facts concerning a few of the better known or more remarkable of these extinct inhabitants of the ancient world.--Introduction.

"Mr. Knight ... is the one modern artist who can picture prehistoric animals with artistic charm of presentation as well as with full scientific accuracy."

While Mr. Lucas did not, in this instance, write for children, they greatly enjoy his descriptions, and are captivated by Mr. Knight's pictures of the strange creatures. There is a very interesting chapter on The Ancestry of the Horse.

"Said the little Eohippus
I am going to be a horse
And on my middle finger-nails
To run my earthly course."

When a work, by an authority as eminent as Professor Newcomb, is interesting to young people, and is to a sufficient degree within their comprehension, it should certainly be put into their hands, even if, as in the present case, it was not specially prepared for them.

This companion to How to Know the Wild Flowers gives in convenient form a great deal of pleasantly told information as to the names, haunts, and habits, of our common ferns. They are arranged in six groups, the classification being based on the frond differences. In almost all cases the nomenclature of Gray's Manual has been followed, and in parentheses, that used in the Illustrated Flora of Britton and Brown is given. Indices to the Latin and English names and to technical terms are included. The many illustrations are helpful.

Every person interested in shells has felt the need of a manual of the shell-bearing animals of sea and land, comparable to the comprehensive manuals provided for those who wish to study birds or insects or trees.... The plan and nomenclature of this book follow the accepted standard, The Manual of Conchology, by Tryon and Pilsbry.--Preface.

Miss Rogers has made an extensive study of conchology on the east and west coasts of North America. The result is this popular guide to a knowledge of the families of living mollusks, which is also an aid to the identification of shells native and foreign. There is a chapter on the maintenance of aquariums and snaileries. Eight of the plates are in color, and ninety-six in black and white for the most part from photographs by A.R. Dugmore.

Most of this volume is devoted to teaching us in an interesting manner how to know the trees of North America. There are, in addition, articles on Forestry, The Uses of Wood, and The Life of the Trees. Sixteen of the plates are in color and one hundred and sixty in black and white from photographs by Mr. Dugmore.

Theoretical and practical information, together with complete directions for performing numerous experiments on wireless telegraphy with simple home-made apparatus.--Title-page.

These talks about our small animal neighbors are full of descriptive interest, and the accompanying black and white illustrations are beautiful.

Mr. Burroughs says: Of all the nature books of recent years, I look upon Mr. Sharp's as the best.

While this large volume gives much information in regard to the habits, intelligence, and usefulness, of those animals which have helped man's civilization forward, the text is not nearly as interesting as it might have been made. The many illustrations, however, are very satisfactory.

Stories

This diary of Reformation days is fictitious, but it serves to bring most vividly before us Luther and the men of his time.

Mrs. Gaskell's masterpiece, which Lord Houghton described as "the finest piece of humoristic description that has been added to British literature since Charles Lamb."

Calm and composure breathe from every page of this picture of life in a small English town during the first half of the nineteenth century. Have we not all in imagination visited Miss Jenkyns and Miss Matty, played preference at Miss Betty Barker's, and helped the Honorable Mrs. Jamieson into her sedan chair? Many girls of fourteen are quite able to appreciate the book's charm.

It will be strange indeed if these fascinating and romantic tales fail to stir the imagination of any young person who reads them and to arouse in him the laudable ambition of some day seeing for himself the three palaces, the mosque, the chapel, and the halls, of the marvellous Alhambra.

"The reader, if he has perused the volume of the Sketch Book, will probably recollect something of the Bracebridge family, with which I once passed a Christmas. I am now on another visit at the Hall, having been invited to a wedding which is shortly to take place.... The family mansion is an old manor-house, standing in a retired and beautiful part of Yorkshire. Its inhabitants have been always regarded through the surrounding country as 'the great ones of the earth,' and the little village near the hall looks up to the squire with almost feudal homage.... While sojourning in this stronghold of old fashions, it is my intention to make occasional sketches of the scenes and characters before me."

The success of Old Christmas has suggested the republication of its sequel Bracebridge Hall, illustrated by the same able pencil, but condensed so as to bring it within reasonable size and price.--Preface.

No one could be better fitted to depict the old customs of an English Christmas than Mr. Caldecott, and his pictures are a perfect accompaniment to this portion of Washington Irving's Sketch Book.

Irving's two most popular sketches, in which young people delight.

Five dollars seems to most of us a large sum to pay for a child's book, but after seeing Mr. Rackham's remarkable work I think we shall all agree that there can be no better way of spending our book-money than in purchasing this fine edition of the famous tale, with its fifty full-page pictures in color.

Boys, especially those with military tendencies, will enjoy Captain King's description of life at West Point.

A glorious tale of the voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, a Devon knight of Elizabethan days.

Scott's masterpiece contains, within the compass of a single volume, sufficient material for five or six books of romance. Incident follows upon incident, and holds the reader, young or old, with entranced attention. The period is that of King Richard I.

The tragic Elizabethan story of Leicester and Amy Robsart. It is not beyond the comprehension of most young people of fourteen.

Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called.--Title-page.

In this sequel to The Orcutt Girls Sue continues her education, doing a little literary work meanwhile. Instead of writing, however, as she had planned, her happy marriage opens the way for home occupations. The thread of pleasant romance will, of course, add to the book's attraction for girl readers.

The thrilling adventures of a young trapper in the Labrador and Ungava regions. Incidentally much information is given in an interesting way. Mr. Wallace is well qualified from personal experience to write of this Northern country.

It is only partially true to call this story a sad one, for it is filled from cover to cover with the Christ-like spirit of love and helpfulness. It tells of little Carol Bird, a patient crippled child, who brought sunshine to all those about her, and who touches every heart. The account of the Christmas dinner which Carol herself gave for the nine little Ruggles children is very amusing. After the happy day, while Christmas hymns were sounding, the dear little girl slipped away to her "ain countree."

Life in the rude days of the Emperor Maximilian I, with scenes in burgh and castle. Under a woman's influence, Schloss Adlerstein is changed from a robber stronghold to an abode of peace.

Author and Title Index