This is a fairly short book, but it certainly hits the spot, for its aim is to inform young people about the four-legged animals of our planet, and this it does very competently.
Of course there is no reason why young ladies should not read this book: I am sure they would enjoy this just as much Reid's target readership, which was boys.
There are 24 chapters, each dealing with a kind of animal. Sometimes an animal genus is given two chapters, for instance domestic dogs, and wild dogs. One grouse: the phrase "well-known" occurs over forty times. Would the "well-known" fact be well-known to the book's intended readership? Probably not.
There are a score of very nice illustrations, most showing numerous animals of that chapter's genus.