Bird life was more prolific and birds were numerous, at suitable places, up to an altitude of seventeen thousand feet above the sea. _ZOOLOGY._ The most recent elementary text-book in zoölogy is from the press of The Macmillan Co. Professor and Mrs. Charles B. Davenport are the joint authors. It is recognized now-a-days that what the general high school or elementary student in zoölogy needs is not professional training in that subject, but rather an opportunity to view the field so that he may have as wide an acquaintance as may be of the forms of animals and of their doings. This he needs that he may have an interest in the things of nature and that he may be a more intelligent member of society in the things pertaining to his welfare as affected by animals. The book is therefore an attempt to restore the old natural history in a newer garb. The text is divided into twenty-one chapters. The first of these deals with ‘The Grasshopper and its Allies,’ followed by others upon the butterfly, beetle, fly, spider, etc., similarly treated. Each chapter has one or two ‘keys’--that is, arrangements whereby the families of animals may be determined. The book is richly illustrated by means of half-tone and line reproduction; a number of photographs are from life, and one of these is a flash-light photograph of a slug and an earthworm crawling upon a pavement at night! Outlines for simple laboratory work and a list of books dealing with the classification and habits of American animals are to be found in an appendix. Many good things might be said of this contribution to zoölogical text-books. This ought to be said, that it will be a book which will be of value to any person who, while upon his holiday trip, wishes to learn about the animals he may come across. _ORNITHOLOGY._