New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-11
IN WOOD AND GARDEN.
OUTDOOR ESSAYS AND POPULAR SCIENCE

orT Illustrated by j. Carter Beard. 1smo. PIP A5
Houghton Mifln & Co.
A.B1RDING ON A BRONCO. By Florence A. Mer-
ram. Illustrated. l6mo. PIP. 226 Houghton. MIL
fin Co
BIRpLAND ECHOES BY Charles Conrad Conrad. Abbott b
l2mo PIP go Philadelphia: J. b. Lippincott
Company.
THE STORY OF THE BIRDS tAPpleton's Home
ismo. d. 2s3. D. Appleton Co.
PLANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN. By Mrs WILL
lam Starr Dana. illustrated by Alice Josephine
Smith. l6mo. pp 272. American Book Company.
FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. BY
F. Schuyler Mathews With two hundred
drawings by the author. l2mo. PIP x. go d.
Robust illustrated a Emo S pp VIII 20 The Macmillan milan
Company
BY OAK AND THORN: BY Alice Brown. lsmo.
pp ZIG Houghton, Miffin & Co.
FIsH-TAILs BY Bradnock Hall. With an orig
inal etching by the author and twelve illusira'
ward Arnold.
Edited by Charles Barber Bradford. I6mo. pp
N1. Charles Barber Bradford
The quaintest picture in Mrs Olive Thorne
Miller's Upon the Tree-Tops" is q casual bit
OF autobiography; II depicts how she watched
a nest full Of young shrikes for a morning In
deferred by the weather-for the day broke
dismally with strong wind and drzzling rain"
she marched to her point of observation In the
woods, planted her camp chair in the least wet
spot she could find. and. tuckng her garments
up from the ground. sat down." There. happy
under her swaying umbrella. she peered through
her opera-glass. hour after hour. at the do
mestic felicity in the thorn tree. The scene H.
Illustrates not only the thoroughness but the
maternal solictude with which Mrs Miller OBJ
serves nature. The chief pleasure TO be had
from her volume comes from the acquaintance
1t gives one with the author. Her tone Is in
innate She writes with the naturalress OF
friendly conversation. and by means Of a
tain unassuming skill in description. seems to
be conversing in the very presence of that which
she describes. Her picturesque bits Of phrasing.
her skilful imitation Of the call Of birds her
passing allusion to flowers, her innumerable sug-
gestions Of color, sound and movement all flow
easily from her PEN In details she shows
usual accuracy of observation. One passage
her description of the hermit thrush-wl suf-
flee to show the zeal with which she notes mi
mute things:
1.-THE bird began to sing his way down to us
about 10 o'clock In the morning. | heard him
first afar off. then coming nearer and nearer.
TIL he reached some favorie perch in the woods.
behind and very near the farmhouse before
noon, where he usually sang at intervals TIL
o'clock in the evening. studied his song care
fully. 1t consisted OF but clause, composed
Of single emphasized note followed by two
triplets on a descending scale. But while re-
tanning the relative positions OF these few notes
he varied the effect almost infinitely by chang
ing both the key and the pitch constantly. with
such skill that was astonished to discover the
remarkable simplicity Of the song. striking
quality Of 1t was an attempt which he fire.
uuently made to utter his clause higher on the
scale than he could reach that the triplets
became a sort OF tr tremolo. at the very
extreme Of his register. Sometimes he gave the
triplets alone. without the Introductory note.
but never. in the weeks that studied his song.
did he sing other than this one clause"
This 10 as good a bit Of writing as is to be
found In Mrs. Millers volume. Ordinarily, II
must be confessed, much Of what she gains In
fanciful sentiment she loses In soundness and
strenuousness Of tone. Her enthusiasm Is SO
mellow. she Is 80 cheerfully occupied with lit
tie things. she mingles fancy and didacticism
In such quaint fashion. she Is 10 frankly femi-
nine that one II pleasantly diverted by her zeal
Gus anthropomorphizing Of nature but to every
one interested In nature for what II 10 Mrs.
xsisss tssatsasat Of Il - v n wssAI seaA1alae