to me quickly, put her strong fore-paws on my shoulders and, purring and rubbing herself against me, she would follow me into the room and prepare to pass the night on the bed or the lounge." The fur of the lynx is very valuable. The Scandinavian specimens are counted among the largest and finest. Siberia and Russia furnish many thousands of skins. The flesh is said to be very palatable. It is light colored and tender, like the best veal, and is free from the disagreeable taste so common in game. The lynx was known to the ancients but was exhibited much more rarely in Rome than the lion and leopard, because even then it was so much more difficult to take alive. The one that Pompey exhibited had been captured in Gaul. The life of the wildcat in the natural state was shrouded in mystery which left room for many fables. CHRISTMAS ONCE IS CHRISTMAS STILL. PHILLIPS BROOKS. The silent skies are full of speech, For who hath ears to hear; The winds are whispering each to each; The moon is calling to the beach; And stars their sacred wisdom teach Of Faith and Love and Fear. But once the sky its silence broke, And song o'erflowed the earth; The midnight air with glory shook, And angels mortal language spoke, When God our human nature took In Christ the Savior's birth. And Christmas once is Christmas still; The gates through which He came, And forests wild, and murmuring rill, And fruitful field, and breezy hill, And all that else the wide world fill, Are vocal with His name. Shall we not listen while they sing This latest Christmas morn, And music hear in everything, And faithful lives in tribute bring, To the great song which greets the King Who comes when Christ is born? [Illustration: FROM COL. F. KAEMPFER. A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO. EUROPEAN SQUIRREL. 2/3 Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1899, By NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.] THE EUROPEAN SQUIRREL. (_Sciurus vulgaris._) C. C. M.