16 NOVEMBER 1907, Page 8

the--tales he and others told each other as children, growing

as more wild creatures were added to the list, and in later years gaining form and consistency as he learnt the conditions of wild life. He gives chapters from the lives of the furze folk, the red- deer, the wild dog, the golden eagle, in the style made more or less familiar to us by the autobiographers of the jungle folk,—a reminiscence of the classical, which youthful readers appreciate, and which serves to dignify the animals. Mr. Atkey does this well, and makes the wild creatures very real to us, sustaining throughout the dramatic interest of their lives, and the perpetual problem of their food and their safety. The drawings by Mr. Rountree are spirited, and quite in keeping with the atmosphere of the letter-

press. , One gets the impression of the Nature described by the poet a little too strongly perhaps ; still, it is not for us to deny its truth. It is a book that boys will like—boys more than girls— and to them we commend it. No British boy can road Folk of the Wild without understanding more of the animals he may have the good fortune to see in the wilder spots of his home. It is the kind of book that begets a desire for sanctuaries of wild life.