REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES 
‘93 
ol smaller fry, bore eloquent testimony to the cause of their 
disappearance. 
Like the gardener, the agriculturist has no good word for 
the sparrow, and perhaps, seeing that his numbers are so great 
and that he appears to be able to hold his own in sj)ite of his 
enemies, it is unnecessary to urge much in his favour. That 
he has some virtues to set off against his crimes is be>’ond doubt, 
for he is a devourer of grubs and other harmful insects, but 
m his case there is perhaps the least possible to say in his favour. 
He is not now what Nature intended him to be. He has become 
demoralised as a result of his civilisation, and we greatly fear 
that he prefers to take the food which is the most easy for him 
to obtain ; but his race is so abundant and he is so well able 
to take care of himself that it would be superfluous to say any- 
thing further on his behalf. 
The question of bird preservation is one that deserws far 
closer attention upon the jiart of gardeners and agriculturists 
than it generally receives. It is a matter which should be of 
the greatest interest to each one of us, whether it be that we 
take a keen pleasure in the mere existence of bird-life or look 
upon birds as creatures that are intended to fulfil some mission 
m life. Happily the efforts of societies and individuals have 
been productive of much good in our own country, and it is 
to be hoped that we are for ever to be saved from the fate that 
has overtaken other lands where the destruction of useful birds 
has been allowed to go on till it was too late. It is so easy to 
destro}’, but so difficult to replace, as many have found to 
their cost. Enough wanton slaughter by the thoughtless and 
enough destruction by the ignorant has already taken place 
in our own land and let us strive to prevent it from going further. 
There are two sides to the question, and it is fair that both 
should be heard, but with better education as to the habits 
and uses of our British birds, it will follow that the question 
that affects their preservation or destruction will be discussed 
more upon the principles of common-sense than from the 
point of view of the sentimental and the prejudiced. 
“ E.asx Sussex.” 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
The Fungus Flora of Yorkshire. A Complete Account of the Known Fungi of 
the County. By G. Massee and C. Crossland. Botanical Transactions of 
the Yorkshire Naiuralists’ Union, Vol. 4. A. Brown and .Sons. Price 
los. 6d. net. 
We congratulate the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union in being the first county 
society to complete a fungus flora. The work has been going on for seventeen 
years, and though the goodly volume that chronicles in systematic order the 
results of more than fourteen fungus forays beats only the names of the Chairman 
and Secretary of the Mycological Committee, more than a dozen others have 
assisted by investigating special districts. The Myxomycetes are included, but 
