25 DECEMBER 1909, Page 23

The Story of the Pine - Marten Mustela. By Arthur Bertram Hutton.

(D. Nutt. 2s. net.)—‘ Mustela' is a very interesting creature, and, we readily believe, drawn from life. Of her mate, Pekan,' we see but little,—ostendunt tent um fate neque ultra esse sinunt. For, alas ! it is too true that, as Mr. Hutton says, "true animal stories hive a large element of tragedy in them." Still, it is good to read of the cleverness of the creature, as she found food for herself, and later on for her cubs. Thus she lies upon a rock and makes her whiskers play upon the surface of the pool like dancing insects, and gets a rise from a' trout, and the trout itself, which she scoops out of the water with her paw. Mustela,' we are told, survived her family, and is even growing reconciled to the captivity in which she is living.