25 APRIL 1908, Page 13

THE LOG OF THE SUN.

The Log of the Sun: a Chronicle of Nature's Year. By C. William Beebe. With 52 Full-page Illustrations by Walter King Stone and numerous Vignettes and Photographs from Life. (Henry Holt and Co., New York. 26s. net.)—We have already noticed one or two works of ornithology from the pen of Mr. Beebe. The present volume consists of fifty-two short essays arranged according to the months of the year, and describing various things in natural history in the Eastern States of America. Birds take the first place, but reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, and sponges are not forgotten. The essays are of mcrre interest to American than to English readers, who will find it hard to identify the names of the birds. The English sparrow and starling are of course exceptions. Mr. Beebe is Curator of Ornithology in the New York Zoological Park. We read with interest that, in spite of lack of seclusion, as many as sixty-one species of wild birds nest there,-about three times as many as still nest in Regent's Park. Mr. Stone's coloured illustrations are clever, in an impressionist Japanese style. But the pleasure derived from the book is marred by the heaviness of the paper.