° 1912 J Bishop, Birds in the Markets of Southern E-urope. 185 



"The Blinded Birds. 



In consequence of a letter which appeared in our issue of October 

 27, the Florence Society wrote to the head of the Municipal police, 

 Cav. Grasselli, calling his attention to the fact that in spite of the 

 injunction issued by the Commissario Prefettizio, blinded birds 

 were still being sold in the Commune of Florence, namely, in a 

 shop in the centre of the town. The Municipal police at once 

 received orders to see that the injunction was respected, and a 

 number of fines quickly put a stop to the surreptitious traffic. 



When the Commissario (Cav. Ferrara) took the step of pro- 

 hibiting the blinding of birds and the sale of those already maimed, 

 the Florence Society sent a copy of his circular to all the munici- 

 palities in the province, asking them to follow suit. To their 

 honor four — the communes of Fiesole, Tavarnuzze, Cutigliana 

 and Pontassieve — readily expressed their intention of doing so, 

 but the remainder have treated the request with indifference. 



But even should the Municipal authorities be backward in 

 carrying out the law, it is in the power of anyone to denounce to 

 the Municipal police of any commune acts of cruelty of this kind 

 and to exact a prosecution. The Pretor of Arezzo, Signor De 

 Santis, recently fined a man 100 lire, the maximum, on the in- 

 formation of a private individual, and that sentence is a precedent 

 which cannot be ignored. 



No doubt the practice of blinding birds will come to an end in 

 Florence and the neighborhood. When the birds thus treated 

 can no longer be put on sale without the risk of a fine, it will interest 

 no one to commit such a horror. The birds were blinded chiefly 

 in spring, though the Florence Society has information that cases 

 have occurred even in winter." 



In Rome Partridges were served at the hotel in early April; 

 April 10 I saw a man out shooting between Rome and Florence, 

 and in the market at Florence on April 11 were large numbers of 

 Pheasants, Woodcock, Snipe, Redshanks and other Shorebirds, 

 but no small birds, as it is against the law to sell them at that time. 



At Dresden on May 18 and Halle on May 25, Gulls' eggs were 

 for sale in the markets, and game was on the bill-of-fare in Dresden. 

 Our last experience with game on the table was on July 4, when 



