28 MAY 1898, Page 24

The Story of a Red Deer. By the Hon. J.

W. Fortescue. (Macmillan and Co.)—We opened this book with rather a. prejudice against stories in which animals are made to talk like human beings, and were most agreeably surprised. The life of a. red deer on Exmoor, from the time that he trots behind his mother till the day when he stands at bay in the water before the hounds and is swept away by the stream, is told with the most charming simplicity. The story is a mixture of poetry and natural history which it would be difficult to surpass. As we read it we feel the air of Exmoor, we see the hills and the heather, and we hear the music of the hounds. The deer, the foxes, the badgers, the black game, the pheasants, and the woodcocks, all the beasts and birds of Exmoor, appear in the story, and their habits and daily doings are told in the most engaging fashion and

-with a quiet humour that must delight every lover of wild life. We hope Mr. Fortescne may some day tell us some more about Exmoor and its inhabitants in the same delightful style.