Abstract
THIS collection of four volumes, divided, as their titles suggest, into the four natural seasons, fulfil one object in making fascinating reading. The author is also to be congratulated on the many splendid illustrations and especially the photographs. Apart from this, the utility of the book is questionable. From an academic point of view, it is practically useless. Besides, a real lover of Nature would prefer to study her along his own lines, rather than along those set out by another. A guide is useful; but this book can scarcely be recommended as such. Placing observations of this type on an ecological basis demands the consideration of causal relationships between habit and habitat. To know the external morphology of a marsh-marigold and to be able to name it on sight is not so useful as to try to find out why it invariably grows in water-logged soils. The author must plead guilty to omitting this important branch of Nature study.
Nature Rambles: an Introduction to Country-Lore.
Edward Step. (The “Come-with-Me” Books.) Winter to Spring. Pp. vii + 152 + 31 plates. Spring to Summer. Pp. viii + 152 + 31 plates. Summer to Autumn. Pp. viii + 152 + 31 plates. Autumn to Winter. Pp. viii + 152 + 31 plates. (London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co., Ltd., 1930.) 2s. 6d. net each.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nature Rambles: an Introduction to Country-Lore . Nature 126, 803 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126803b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126803b0