d of hunger and cold. _But for the laws prohibiting late winter
shooting undoubtedly all of them would have been shot and eaten,
regardless of their distress_.

Game wardens and humane citizens made numerous efforts to feed the
starving flocks, and many ducks were saved in that way. An illustrated
article on the distressed ducks of Keuka Lake, by C. William Beebe and
Verdi Burtch, appeared in the _Zoological Society Bulletin_ for May,
1912. Fortunately there is every reason to believe that such occurrences
will be rare.

WILD SWANS SWEPT OVER NIAGARA FALLS.--During the past ten years, several
winter tragedies to birds have occurred on a large scale at Niagara
Falls. Whole flocks of whistling swans of from 20 up to 70 individuals
alighting in the Niagara River above the rapids have permitted
themselves to float down into the rapids, and be swept over the Falls,
en masse. On each occasion, the great majority of the birds were
drowned, or killed on the rocks. Of the very few that survived, few if
any were able to rise and fly out of the gorge below the Falls to
safety. It is my impression that about 200 swans recently have perished
in this strange way.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XI

SLAUGHTER OF SONG-BIRDS BY ITALIANS

In these days of wild-life slaughter, we hear much of death and
destruction. Before our eyes there continually arise photographs of
hanging masses of waterfowl, grouse, pheasants, deer and fish, usually
supported in true heraldic fashion by the men who slew them and the
implements of slaughter. The world has become somewhat hardened to these
things, because the victims are classed as game; and in the destruction
of game, one game-bag more or less "Will not count in the news of the
battle."

The slaughter of song, insectivorous and all other birds by Italians and
other aliens from southern Europe has become a scourge to the bird life
of this country. The devilish work of the negroes and poor whites of the
South will be considered in the next chapter. In Italy, linnets and
sparrows are "game"; and so is everything else that wears feathers!
Italy is a continuous slaughtering-ground for the migratory birds of
Europe, and as such it is an international nuisance and a pest. The way
passerine birds are killed and eaten in that country is a disgrace to
the government of Italy, and a standing reproach to the throne. Even
kings and parliaments have no right in moral or internatio