In the series of " Newbery Toy-Books " (Griffith, Farran,
and Co.), we have three, The Book of Birds, The Book of Beasts, The Book of Fishes, all by E. C. Phillips (Mrs. Horace B. Locker). All are meritorious in their way, the illustrations deserving special commendation, and the descriptions being sufficient for their purpose. Were we to criticise anything, it would be the prin- ciple, or, we should say rather, the no-principle of selection. " Cockatoos," "Butcher.Birds," " Swallows," come in order or disorder in the first-mentioned volume, while it would be quite easy, and not without a certain use, to give typical specimens of some of the great genera, with just a hint, it might be, of the system followed. Children cannot be taught too soon to make their curiosity intelligent. The " Fishes " are perhaps the least satisfactory of the three volumes. A whale appears on the title- page, though the author duly explains that the creature is not a proper fish. In the course of the book we come to the seal, which is not even like a fish. One might question, too, the pro- priety of putting in anemones and sponges, while the statement that "coral forms rocks" is not well expressed.
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