A CHARMING BOOKLET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3040, 19 June 1912, Page 79

A CHARMING BOOKLET.

"Where Bell-Birds Chimo." By Edith Howes. Whitcombe and Tombs (Limited), Christehurch, Wellington, and Dunedin.—" Where Ball-Birds Chiino" must surely be classed as one of the very, choicest of the delectable series of booklet* to whirih it is the. latest addition. Written bv the author of "The Sun's Babies'* and ' Fairy Rings," it is hardly necessary to add that the life-cycles "described—those of the Bell-Bird, Tui, Morepork, and Cuckoo; and the Rata, Shepherd's Lily, Supplejack, Clematis, Tree-Fern, and Piri-Piri (Bid-a-Bid)—are delicately, and yet forcefully and truthfully, set forth in language that is as near as may be to the perfection of prose. The charm of the bush ie inseparably connected with the life of thp beautiful and wonderful creatures whose home it is, no less than with the (in their own way) equally wonderful and beautiful regctable forms that go to its making. That Miss Howes has the naturalist's lore at easy command ii evident, and this much anyone may acquire. .But the ability to set forth impressions in language of such delicacy and charm is quite another matter, and very few possess it. Miss Howes has this ability in striking degree, and her chapters are bush-gems, every one of them. The illustrations are nicely selected, the printing excellent, and as a souvenir of

New Zealand for far-away friends "Where Bell-Birds Chime" merits unreserved commendation.