New-York tribune., 1919-12-07
What Shall We Give That Blessed Child for CT
Some Suaqesions
Christmas?

abundant, but in placing an
abridgmcnt of this character be-
fore the public the publishers Mac
millan) are filling a real need.
Nature Study
And Travel
There are two rather new /, rs
of books which offer excellent read
ing for growing children, and Of
which there appears to be an in
creasing number each year; and
these are books on nature study and
on travel. Maeterlinck's "Life of
the Bee" (Dodd, Mead & Co.. has
been done over for younger readers,
and not done over with too much
sugar, or under too much high pres
sure cooking.
Mr.. Thornton Burgess has made
himself the eternal debtor of chill
dren and parents with a bird book
done in an entirely new way. Fhe
Burgess bird Book for Children"
(Little, Brown & Co.. is packed
full of facts about the ap-
pearance, habits and characteristics
of our best known birds, but pre-
sented unostentatiously through a
story in which Peter Rabbit is the
chief actor, as he plays and talks
with the birds in their natural
haunts, from early spring through
the winter months. Each bird in the
story has had his portrait painted by
Louis Agassiz FueTtcs, and has been
given special name in the cast of
characters and short descriptive
caption which fix him indelibly as an
individual and help even very small
children to remember him always.
Frank M. Chapman, curator of
birds at the Museum of Natural His
tory, in New York City, has written
another delightful bird book-this
time about "Our Winter Birds"
(Appleton}. He tells US how we
may make friends with the birds
and attract them to our homes.
Home birds, field birds and forest
t.rds are the topics treated.
And Jean Henri Fabre, whose
Story Booh of Science" and "Ou
Humble Helpers" have won him
warm friends who feel that at last
they understand the cit" that
thunders and rains and know why
the cow is the best milk producer.
has added to his immortal collec
.ion "F'ield, Forest and Farm"
iCentury.) This book deals with such
varied themes as soils. .starches,
wlne-making, birds nests, Goa! and
prehistoric animals, all treated in
very accurate way as we'll as in a
very charming style.
1rdchs and Tracking" by Josef
Brunner Outing Publishing Com
pany), is a book designed to help
sportsmen to "read the signs of the
woods and plains correctly" De-
scriptions and figures are given of
many of the footprints of wild
mammals, such as deer, wolf, ante
lopa, etc, and Of wild birds, such as
the grouse and heron. A careful
study of the tracks Of these ami
mails reveals not only the kind of
animal that made them, but also it's
sex, whether wounded and where.
and other bits Of information in
valuable to the hunter. The author
has had years of experience in his
subject and can speak with au-
thority.
A book that is not intended to
be zoologically authoritative. but
that makes capita reading is "Orer
ind'cn ond Amimnl Trails" by Jean
M. Thompson (Stokes). The author
is reported to have spent years and
years just watching the animals
about whom she WITHSTAND her
stories show it, else surely she would
never be able to tell us such init
mate details of life in the woods
and the meadows. They are told
as Indian folklore.
The author of "Beout;ful Joeu
has at last come out Of a too long
hiding to write another novel Of
animal life. "Goiden Dicky." by
Marshal Saunders (Stokes}, is
little canary who tells the story OF
his life, introducing his friends the
sparrow, the squirrel, the fami],.
dog, the robin, the pigeon and the
hoardlng-house cat. Humans come
IN for their share of description
and criticism, too. The book has no
Illustrations, but the story is so
vivldly told that an artists pic
lures would ONLY conflict with t,o