i860] Destruction of Rare Birds. 113 



purpose. Servants were constantly employed loading his 

 guns, and filling hampers with the slain ; but long ere the 

 sun had set, his object was accomplished and his bet won. 

 Five hundred birds at this season may be reckoned equiva- 

 lent to twice or thrice as many according to the number of 

 young they would have respectively produced.' And 

 * such ' (concludes Mr. Thompson) < is an instance of what, 

 on a smaller scale, is being commonly enacted/ We 

 wish we could believe the Terns at the Fame Islands, off 

 Northumberland, suffered from none but ornithologists' 

 guns. And be it remembered there is no skill required to 

 bring down a Tern. The bird is killed on the wing about 

 as easily as a fowl standing at a barn-door. 



" But in Italy, and in the countries affected by the 

 proceedings of the Italian bird-destroyers, who intercept 

 the migratory species * en route,' and hold, as it were, a 

 seasonal battue or carnival of slaughter ; it is here that 

 the diminution of insectivorous birds has become a serious 

 evil, so much so that laws have been, in some places, 

 enacted for the protection of the little warblers, and others, 

 who rid the agriculturist of so many of his enemies in the 

 shape of grubs and blights. This course has been adopted 

 in some parts of Germany, and we believe also in one 

 of the United States of America. The question of the 

 advantage or disadvantage of encouraging Sparrows has 

 been discussed at length several times in this country, 

 with the conclusion that we derive, from their visits to our 

 fields and gardens, more benefit than harm : they both 

 keep down insect pests and also check the growth of 

 weeds by devouring the seeds. But it is allowed that a 

 moderate thinning of these birds is, at seed-time, advisable. 



" Now for the welcome which awaits our little friends in 

 Italy. To quote from a most interesting work, F. von 

 Tschudi's * Alps,' the following eloquent passage occurs 

 at page 80 of the French version : 



" * Thousands of birds enliven our fields and forests, nest 

 with us, and peaceably spend the winter in our country; 

 but few live to return to the valley where they were born, 

 to the bush or rock which sheltered them in infancy. Some 

 perish exhausted by the fatigues of their journey : others 



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