PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 70

PUBLIC ATIONS RECEIVED

The Christmas number of the Girls' Realm to hamd from Messrs Gordon and Gotch, with its 137 illustrations, is one that can be commended to young girl readers as containing a. maximum of bright, entertaining, and seasonable literatur© calculated to provide them with resources for amusing and delighting others, and eug- | gesting many pleasant methods of haying a really good time. Besides th© Christmas stories, tho instalments of the two serial tales, and the usual departments, there are hints on entertaining, how to make a cheap and pretty blotter, how to model flowers, etc. In "A Painter of Childhood" some particulars are givtaii concerning Mrs B. Pease Gutmanm, with reproductions of her child-paintings. The Christmas number of The Storyteller, published by Messrs Caseell and Co., contains some 18 short stories, a long complete novel by Mayne Lindsay, and the briefest of Christmas atoryettes by Phyllis Dare, Little Tich, Kennerley Rumford, Seymour Hicks, eto. When it is stated that the writers include such well-known authors as Max Pemberton, Richard Marsh, L. T. Mead©, Fred. M. White, | Captain Shan, and a number of others, and that the publishing price is 6d, it will be seen that here, indeed, ie cheap but good fiction. | Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs have published two booklets containing Slaori sketches. The one contains a number of ! photographs of warriors wielding Main' weapons and portraits of typical Maori women and j?irls. The second includes portraits of youths and maidens. The booklets are not ony suitable for sending to friends outside* the Dominion, but are . artistic souvenirs which many within th© I Dominion may desire to keep. The pub- | lishing price is Is 6d. j Tho January number of Good Cheer, a ■ Horn* journal published monthly, is to ; hand. There are some 32 pages made up of stories, poetry, illustrated articles, etc. - A cut pattern is given away free with ! each number. * j

A grey duck made the Park Commitfee of the Timaru Domain a very substantial ; Christmaa present. The duck (says the Timaru Herald) had been very closely ; attending to domestic duties on the island j in the ornamien/tal water for some weeks, ! and on Christmas morn took eight of her j infant sons and daughters out for their first swim. The instance is of more than ' passing importance, as it shows that the wild duck will rear a numerous family in captivity. j