180 Bishop, Birds in the Markets of Southern Europe. [apHI 



Only once did we stay over two weeks in a place, and that was 

 in Venice, where the birds for sale in the markets proved so inter- 

 esting that six weeks had passed before I could tear myself away. 

 You all know no doubt that small birds are sold for food in southern 

 Europe, but the extent of this traffic was astounding to me. And 

 in view of this annual destruction I was much interested to learn 

 what I could of how plenty birds are in regions likely to have 

 been affected by this slaughter. 



We reached Venice on October 15, for one of us the first visit to 

 what I think the most fascinating city in the world, and for the 

 other a return after nineteen years. Naturally our first days were 

 fully occupied with other matters, but on the morning of October 

 24 I visited the central market, and what I found there in the 

 bird-line proved so interesting that Oct. 26, 29 and 31 saw me there 

 again, as did Nov. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21 and 22. 

 Birds were there in profusion from Ducks to Kinglets 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 visits by the thousands 

 if not tens of 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. One of these sacks I examined on Nov. 3 contained 

 hundreds of birds, largely Siskins, Skylarks and Bramblings, and 

 the same species constituted the vast majority of a similar sack 

 noticed on Nov. 17, but in the latter there were many Fieldfares. 

 For Oct. 29 my notes say "Market full of small birds, largely 

 Siskins, hanging in bunches by thread passed through neck and 

 head"; on Oct. 31, "Market full of small birds, chiefly Bramblings, 

 but many Chaffinches and Hawfinches." Again on Nov. 8 I 

 write "Market full of fresh small birds," on Nov. 10 "Many 

 large birds"; and on Nov. 14 "Many small birds, chiefly Bramb- 

 lings and Siskins." 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, breast up, in shallow tin boxes and exposed 

 for sale. 



