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Mrs. Staveley-Hill,



One wonders whether the roccoli in Italy have been less

worked on account of the war. I fear not, for there are always

old men and boys left at home. But if the toll on the poor birds

has been less, what a blessing ! The roccoli are everywhere, and

the goldfinches are netted in thousands, so that one wonders how

they manage to keep up at all. How horrid it is, this perpetual

slaughter of living things, from man downwards! Members will

recall my account of an Italian roccolo, with illustrations, in the

1912 magazine (January). Two pairs of goldfinches always nested

in the tall cypress trees in my garden, which overhung the lake of

Como at Varenna, but I never saw the birds anywhere in the garden

itself, and I imagine they resorted to the rough ground on the

mountain sides at the back of the town, although, often as I

walked there, the goldfinches were not to be met with.—E d.



MY PIPING CROW.


By Mrs. STAVELEY-HiLL.


I bought my crow five years ago and call her Chips ; she

was then quite a young bird not full grown, was very tame and soon

became devoted to mebut took a violent dislike to my children and

all men, flying at them and snapping her beak with a loud crack.


I fed her on a little raw or cooked meat twice a day, insects

of all kinds and any scraps she cares to eat, such as cake, bread and

butter, &c., and, as a great treat, a mouse (when obtainable).


I used to take her to London with me, when she always

travelled in a box with a hole at the top, out of which she would

stick her head, taking great interest in everything and calling out

“ hullo! ” to the passengers. If I had the carriage to myself I let

her out of the box when she would sit on the window-ledge or on

my shoulder watching everything that passed. Chips soon learnt

to say a few words and now whistles whenever I speak to her. She

has a wonderfully powerful voice. I do not take her away now

unless I am going to the seaside for a month or more with the

family, when Chips comes too, and thoroughly enjoys a walk in a

field when there are ants’ nests to be found, which I dig up, Chips



