26 DECEMBER 1885, Page 22

My Back-yard Zoo. By the Rev. J. G. Wood. (Iabister.)—Mr.

Wood's gift of writing pleasantly about "common objects" is well

known ; he has given us a pleasant example of it here. This book consists of two parts, "My Back-yard Zoo" and "Foreign Relatives of Home Friends." Every one may have the same sort of " Zoo " as Mr. Wood describes, for its inmates are not very difficult to obtain ; indeed, some of them are a trifle too abundant. The cat and the dog are the chief inhabitants. Then come "Mice and Rats," "The Bat," "Birds," "The Slug and the Snail," "The Spider," and "The Fly and Insects." The "Foreign Relatives" are naturally more numerous, and, of coarse, beyond the reach of the ordinary collector. He must be content with reading about them, while he may learn from Mr. Wood's descriptions to watch the habits, and learn some- thing about the nature, of the others.