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NATURE NOTES. 
The approach of winter suggests that many who are not already acquainted 
with it will be glad to have their attention called to Mr. J. E. Bagnall’s Hand- 
book of Mosses fSonnenschein and Co., is.) This is a popular and yet accurate 
introduction to the study of the group, written by one who is recognised as an 
authority on the subject, and may be confidently recommended to all who wish to 
begin a more intimate acquaintance with these small but beautiful plants. The 
more advanced students will find the Key to the Genera and Species of British 
Mosses, by the Rev. H. G. Jameson (West Newman and Co., 54, Hatton Garden, 
is. 6d.), a simple and handy arrangement of the species, with the characteristic 
features of each indicated ; the plate, which contains sixty-seven figures, illustrat- 
ing the terms employed, is a useful adjunct to the enumeration. 
Lady Lindsay contributes to The New Review, for September, an interesting 
article on the Folk-lore of the swallow and sparrow. She will thank us for bring- 
ing to her notice Mr. Swainson’s Folk-lore of British Birds (Folk-lore Society), 
with which she does not seem to be acquainted, and which contains a treasury of 
tradition about our British birds. We would also call attention to a beautifully 
illustrated article on “ The Birds of London,” by Mr. Benjamin Kidd, in the 
English Illustrated Magazine for October. 
SELBORNIAIsFA. 
A Desideratum in Gardens for the People. — Gardens Once Again. 
•Mr. W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., of the British Museum, writes as follows: — “ (Much 
has been done in the way of providing gardens for the people, and even in dis- 
tributing plants from time to time ; but yet it appears to me that one thing is 
wanting. In the main, it is necessary, perhaps, to put up notices that ‘ Flowers 
must not be gathered, nor trees injured.’ And notwithstanding the temptation, 
these notices are for the most part respected. But could not gardens or parts of 
gardens be set aside in which flowers, or quick-growing flowering shrubs could 
be reared in quantities, and where tile visitors, especially children, might be 
allowed, under suitable regulations, to gather and take away flowers for them- 
selves ? I am certain that such a privilege would be greatly appreciated by many 
of the poorer classes, and I feel sure that it would not be abused.” 
The House Sparrow in Somerset. — I have been much struck by 
the apparently considerable increase in the numbers of house sparrows in a 
country district in the north-west corner of Somerset, with which I am very 
familiar. At one time they were almost scarce, but during the last year or two 
they have multiplied to such an extent that the chaffinches and yellow-hammers 
seem to have been almost ousted to make room for these lusty ruffians. I think 
it is an understatement of the truth to say that for every sparrow one used to see 
there are new six. I make these assertions with great diffidence, as my observa- 
tions have been made during short occasional visits only, and they may therefore 
be true of certain seasons only, but I fear this is not the case. I know that 
London sparrows are said to migrate into the country when the “ season ” is over 
because their ordinary supply of food runs short, and they like to change it for 
what they can get in the harvest fields ; but I cannot imagine that any similar 
reason should send their Bristol relatives out into the bare country during the 
Easter holidays of this wintry spring, and it was this Easter that their increase has 
seemed to me so particularly marked. The country people about attribute it to the 
severity of the winter, which has killed off many of the birds through starvation, 
whereas the sparrows, so they say, have flown down to the docks at the mouth of 
the Avon — a distance of about two miles in a direct line — and have subsisted on the 
refuse which is thrown out by ships unlading. I confess this does not seem to 
me a very satisfactoiy or sufficient solution of the problem, especially as the 
increase has not been merely proportional to the number of other birds, but actual. 
I should be much interested to know whether a similar increase has been 
noticed in other parts of the country, and if so to what cause the increase in those 
