out. It is
now said, however, that through the efforts of a recently organized
bird-lovers' society in Italy, the blinding of decoy birds for roccolos
is to be stopped.

In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the protection of these birds
during their breeding season must be very effective, for otherwise the
supply for the Italian slaughter of the Innocents would long ago have
fallen to nothing.

The Germans love birds, and all wild life. I wonder how they like the
Italian roccolo. I wonder how France regards it; and whether the nations
of Europe north of Italy will endure this situation forever.

To the American and English reader, comment on the practices recorded
above is quite unnecessary, except the observation that they betoken a
callousness of feeling and a depth of cruelty and destructiveness to
which, so far as known, no savages ever yet have sunk. As an exhibit of
the groveling pusillanimity of the human soul, the roccolo of northern
Italy reveals minus qualities which can not be expressed either in words
or in figures.

And what is the final exhibit of the gallant knight of the roccolo, the
feudal lord of the modern castle and its retainers?

The answer is given by Dr. Louis B. Bishop, in an article on "Birds in
the Markets of Southern Europe."

In Venice, which was visited in October and November, during the fall
migration, he found on sale in the markets, as food, thousands of
songbirds.

"Birds were there in profusion, from ducks to kites, in the early
morning, hung in great bunches above the stalls, but by 9 A.M. most of
them had been sold. Ducks and shorebirds occurred in some numbers, but
the vast majority were small sparrows, larks and thrushes. These were
there during my visit by the thousands, if not ten thousands. To the
market they were brought in large sacks, strung in fours on twigs which
had been passed through the eyes and then tied. Most of these small
birds had been trapped, and on skinning them I often could find no
injury except at their eyes.[C] One of these sacks which I examined on
November 3, contained hundreds of birds, largely siskins, skylarks and
bramblings. As a rule the small birds that were not sold in the early
morning were skinned or picked, and their tiny bodies packed in regular
order, breasts up, in shadow tin boxes, and exposed for sale."

[Footnote C: It is probable that these birds were killed by piercing the
head through the eyes.]

"During these visits to the