Wabeno, The Magician. The Sequel to Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts, by Mabel Osgood Wright. Illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1899. Price, $1.50.
This pretty green and gold covered book, with its mystical sign of three interlaced hearts, will be a treasure to the army of little folks who have so enjoyed its predecessor 'Tommy-Anne.' Not only will they meet in its pages the delightful Tommy-Anne herself, but several other old friends: Obi, the almost too-human Waddles, the unfortunate Horned Owl, and others. In this volume Anne—having dropped the Tommy from her name, pushes her "whys" into the several kingdoms of earth and air. She interviews the "Man in the Moon," learns the story of the red man from a talkative Indian arrow head, and the secrets of the hive from a friendly honey-bee. Through her magic spectacles life at the bottom of the sea becomes visible, and the past history of the earth comes to light. It may readily be seen that the author has not forgotten her own childish "wonderments," and is therefore eminently fitted to satisfy those of children to-day, and although the imagination has full play in the manner of conveying it—the "how"—the information given is trustworthy. The book, with all its charm of fantasy may be put into the hands of children with the assurance that it will let them into the secrets of many interesting things in Nature, and leave no sting of false statements to be corrected as the years pass on.
The book, as usual with the publications of the house of Macmillan, is fully illustrated, beautifully printed and altogether a pleasure to look at and handle.—Olive Thorne Miller.
The Birds of Eastern North America. Key to the Families and Species. By Charles B. Cory. Part I, Water Birds, pp. i-ix, 1-130; Part II, Land Birds, pp. i-ix, 131-387. 4to. Numerous illustrations. Special edition printed for the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, Ill., 1899.
Mr. Cory has spared neither pains nor expense to lighten the labors of young ornithologists in the matter of identification. Arbitrary 'Keys' arranged on apparently the simplest plans, a careful use of distinguishing type, and numberless illustrations characterize this work, which will doubtless rank as its talented author's most valuable and important contribution to the literature of ornithology.
The present volumes contain only the analytical keys to families and species, and apparently are to be followed by others giving detailed descriptions of plumage and biographical matter. A list of the birds of Eastern North America, with the ranges of the species, is appended to the second volume.—F. M. C.
Dickey Downy; the Autobiography of a Bird. By Virginia Sharpe Patterson. Introduction by Hon. John F. Lacey, M.C. Drawings by Elizabeth M. Hallowell. Philadelphia, A. J. Rowland, 1899. 16mo, pp. 192, full-page coloro-types, 4.
In this little volume the Bobolink recounts the history of his life with particular reference to his experiences with man. Due regard has been paid to the known habits of the bird, and the book seems well designed to arouse the interest and enlist the sympathy of children in bird-life. The colored illustration of the Scarlet Tanager facing page 64 is wrongly labeled "Summer Tanager," but beyond this slip we notice no errors.
Congressman Lacey's introduction shows that its writer has an adequate conception of both the economic and æsthetic value of birds, of the evils of wantonly destroying them, and of the need for their protection.—F. M. C.