108 



North America, and of its spi'ead and increase. This is followed by a 

 consideration of the evidence, pro and con, first as to direct injury to 

 field crops, gardens, &c , then as to the relations of this sparrow to other 

 birds beneficial to agriculture, and finally with regard to its insec- 

 tivorous habits. A careful and impartial survey of the evidence on 

 both sides can hardly fail to convince any fair-minded person, as it has 

 the writer of the bulletin, that " The English Sparrow is a curse of such 

 virulence that it ought to be systematically attacked and destroyed 

 before it becomes necessary to deplete the public treasury for the pur- 

 pose, as has been done in other countries." flecoramendations for 

 legislation and of various methods of exterminating the pest are then 

 given, followed by an interesting paper on trapping sparrows for sport- 

 ing purposes by Mr. W. T. Hill, of Indianapolis, Ind., and V)y a short 

 history of the House Sparrow and of the European Tree Sparrow, 

 {Passer montanus) at St. Louis, Mo., by Mr. Otto Widmann. The 

 report on the insectivorous habits of the English S])ai-row is contributed 

 by Prof. C. V. Riley, Entomologist of the Depirtmeut, while the paper 

 on the destruction of sparrows by poisons was prepared by Dr. A. K. 

 Fisher, Assistant Ornithologist. A carefully prepared map shows the 

 enormous amount of territory over which the sparrow has spread in the 

 thirty-seven years since its introduction. 



Dr. Merriam, who personally wrote but a small portion of the 

 book, is to be congratulated on having such a painstaking and compe- 

 tent assistant as Mr. Barrows has shown himself to be iu the authorship 

 and compilation of this bulletin. W. A. D. L. 



Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada. Alfred R. 

 C. Selwyn, C.M.G., LL.D., F. R.S., F.G.S., &c., Director, Report 

 for 1887. Several parts of Vol. [II of the nft^ff series are out. 

 (A) Selwyn — Summary Report of the Director for the years 1887 

 and 1888 ; (B) Dawson — Report on an Exploration in the Yukon Dis- 

 trict, N.W.T., and adjacent portions of British Columbia ; (C) Bowman 

 — Report on the Geology of the Mining District of Cariboo, British 

 Columbia; (E) Tyrrell — Notes to accompany a preliminary map of 

 the Duck and Riding Mountains in iSTorth western Manitoba ; (F) 

 Lawson — Report on the Geology of the Rainy Lake Region ; (H) 

 Ingall — Report on Mines and Mining on Lake Superior ; Pt. A : His- 



