Examining a flowering shrub under a microscope in his garden in Santa Rosa, California. He is called "unique in his knowledge of Nature, and his manipulation and interpretation of her forces." The renowned Dutch botanist, Dr. Hugo de Vries, named Burbank "the greatest breeder of plants the world has ever known." This most beneficent of naturalists, whose potato, stoneless plum, spineless cactus and ever-bearing strawberry have aided beyond all estimate California industry, was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, March 7, 1849] [Illustration: DAN BEARD National Scout Commander of the Boy Scouts of America, and beloved by all sportsmen and naturalists] Other clever writers have produced animal stories, of which the best are those by Charles G.D. Roberts, the Canadian author. Imitators appeared and obtained wide popularity until earnest protests from real naturalists and educators arose. Some of these writers were pronounced "Nature fakirs" and were discredited. Mr. Seton has produced in his two fine volumes, "Northern Mammals," the best treatise in existence on the natural history of our more northern four-footed beasts. He has also written a capital book on the scenery, people and zoology of northern Canada, entitled "The Arctic Prairies"--a good example of the many highly interesting and instructive books of travel produced within the past few years by men who may be termed hunter-naturalists, such as the late Theodore Roosevelt, Frank Chapman, Caspar Whitney, Dwight Huntington, Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Beebe, Enos Mills, William B. Cabot, Charles Sheldon; and the authors of reports on various governmental exploratory expeditions in Alaska and elsewhere, especially Andrew J. Stone, E. W. Nelson, Lieut. Sugden, the Preble brothers, Wilfred Osgood, Vernon Bailey, and several Canadian travelers. _John Muir and Elliott Coues_ [Illustration: BRADFORD TORREY Ornithologist and author; editor of Thoreau's works] [Illustration: DR. ELLIOTT COUES An eminent naturalist distinguished for his researches in ornithology] One man among these explorers stands out above all others for his loving appreciation of Nature in her wild state, combined with a remarkable power of delineation, and a gift of carrying to his readers not only the facts that engaged his attention, but a share of his delight in his experiences and of the inner meanings of them. This man is John Muir, whose narratives of discovery in the Western mountains are an immortal part of American literature. Never will the present writer forget the inspiration of a day in the woods with John Muir and John Burroughs! Different in fields of work, in literary style, and, to a great degree, diverse in habits of thought and views of life, they were at one, and beautifully supplementary in their reverential interpretation of Nature.