﻿Italian Bird Life as it Impresses an American 



To-day 



By FRANCIS H. HERRICK, Author of the "Home Life of Wild Birds" 

 With photographs by the author 



" ~\ /FADE to be taken and destroyed" expresses the general attitude of 

 I \/ I Italians toward the wild life of their country, and this ancient 

 verdict upon birds was, without doubt, shared by many of the 

 Mediterranean peoples. The Italians do not feel those sentiments of 

 friendship and affection for the song-birds of the country, so common in 

 England and Germany, as well as in most parts of America. 



Twice in the year, in late fall and early spring, Italian shop-keepers fill 

 their windows with "things for hunters," and the great army of migratory 

 birds begins to pay the penalty of entering a hostile country. Throughout 

 the length and breadth of the Peninsula, song- and game-birds, as well as 

 birds of prey, are snared, netted and shot, with no discrimination as to size 

 or kind, to be sent, with few exceptions, to the grill-houses of Naples and 

 Rome, or to market in any of the larger Italian towns. 



Strings of birds are hawked about the streets and hung in the windows 

 of shops, — especially in the small markets, and in the Rosticerie, or grill- 

 houses, — as was once a common custom in our southern cities from Balti- 

 more to New Orleans, and probably has not wholly ceased in spite of the 

 efforts made to suppress it. The dead birds are displayed on marble slabs or 

 wooden tables, all neatly arranged in little piles on green leaves, and often 

 plucked and ready for the spit. 



In the markets of Italy are to be found, almost without exception, all 

 the common birds of Europe. Indeed, the materials for the large and fine 

 collection of stuffed birds in the Museum of the University of Rome have 

 been almost wholly obtained from Roman markets, during the past fifty 

 or seventy-five years. Larger birds, like the Snipe {Gallinago caelestis) , are 

 sold for one lira (twenty cents), while the smallest of the Warblers, and 

 Finches, which can be strung like beads on a necklace, bring but a few soldi 

 (one soldo or five centessimi, equaling one cent of American money). 



At the rear of these Rosticerie a long, cylindrical grill is commonly seen 

 in operation, roasting the spitted birds, poultry and meats for customers. 

 The Roman grill is an ingenious contrivance, carrying from one to six or 

 more spits, or long iron rods, which are made to revolve slowly over a char- 

 coal fire by means of clockwork. The boy or man in attendance, who 

 takes the place of the old-time turnspit dog, has little to do but remove the 

 roasting titbits, transfix still other morsels of bird-flesh, interlarding them 

 with shavings of pork, bacon or pig's liver, and replace the spits over the 

 fire. Moreover, every well-equipped Roman household possesses its own 

 grill, for they are made in many sizes, to operate which is only necessary to. 



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