use they present scientific facts.

_Some types of nature literature._ One of the oldest forms of nature
literature is the beast tale in which animals are represented as talking
and acting like human beings. Stories of this type entertain while they
reveal the general nature of various kinds of animals. Fables should not
be called nature literature, because their chief purpose is to criticize
the follies of human beings. Some of the Negro folk tales that Joel
Chandler Harris collected are nature literature of this type. Beast
tales, however, are not all old. Stories by such modern authors as
Thornton W. Burgess and Albert Bigelow Paine, who are represented in
this section, may be called beast tales. They are popular in the primary
grades.

Another type of nature literature, quite different from that just
discussed, has been produced during the last century by students of
nature who endeavor to hold strictly to facts in their writing. This may
be called realistic nature literature. Henry Thoreau, John Burroughs,
Olive Thorne Miller, and Dallas Lore Sharp may be mentioned as writers
of this kind of literature. As we read their books, we usually feel that
they are endeavoring to relate incidents as they actually occurred. Also
we recognize that they are great students of nature, for they perceive
details that we might not notice and they draw or suggest conclusions
that we may accept as true, although we might never think of drawing the
conclusions. Nature literature of this kind may be no less entertaining
than fairy tales, for it may, in a pleasing way, reveal wonders in
nature. The selections by Dallas Lore Sharp and Olive Thorne Miller in
this section are of this kind. Most of the writings of Henry Thoreau and
John Burroughs are in a style too difficult for pupils in the grades.

A third type may be called nature romance. Its purpose is both to
entertain and to awaken sympathy and love for animals. Stories of this
kind, like other romances, idealize the characters and may have a strong
appeal to the emotions. Of the stories in this section, we may classify
as nature romance Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit," Sewell Ford's "Pasha,
the Son of Selim," Ouida's "Moufflou," and Rudyard Kipling's "Moti
Guj--Mutineer."

A fourth kind of nature literature, sometimes called nature fiction, has
been developed within the last quarter of a century and is already
recognized as excellent. The plot is created by the author, although