1326 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



DKOMHDAIIY AM) (.UDIIA OK DWAKF DONKIA 



a peculiar snake condition. We find it difficult 

 to obtain large specimens of the western dia- 

 mond-back rattlesnake, owing to the fear of col- 

 lectors to venture within that bullet-infested 

 region. A collector in Texas who zig-zags back 

 and forth across the boundary line wrote us 

 recently as follows: "I can't catch any big rat- 

 tlesnakes now. On my last trip the onlj^ thing 

 I got was a collection of bullet holes through my 

 new Ford car. They said they didn't shoot at 

 me, but this didn't make me feel any better." 

 The collector mentioned brings in as many as 

 tzvo hundred rattlers in a week's trip ! He 

 does not bother to pick up specimens under four 

 and a half feet in length; and many of them 

 are over six feet long and twelve inches in cir- 

 cumferance. These big rattlers seem imbued 

 with the fighting spirit of the region. When 

 first placed on exhibition they rattle continu- 

 ously for hours. The Texas collectors sell their 

 rattlesnakes in novel fashion, charging not ac- 

 cording to the length of the individual. After 

 selecting specimens of the required size they 

 weigh them, and sell them at thirty cents per 

 pound ! 



ITALY STOPS BIRD SLAUGHTER. 



UNDER date of December 8, from Rome, 

 the Trustees of the Permanent Wild Life 

 Protection Fund are informed by Frederic 

 C. Walcott that "the Italian Government has at 

 last passed a law, which goes into effect January 

 1, prohibiting the shooting of all song and insec- 

 tivorous birds throughout Italy." If this prohi- 

 bition also includes, as it is only fair to assume 

 that it does, the netting of all such birds, then 

 Italy has indeed carried into effect a great re- 

 form. The importance of this action to the birds 

 and the crops of Europe is beyond computation. 

 Hitherto the netting of song birds while on their 

 migrations has been a wide-spread industry, and 

 the deadly roccollo has each year slaughtered 

 hundreds of thousands of the choicest song-birds 

 of Europe for food. Both in America and in 

 England this abuse has been severely denounced, 

 and an American bird protector has declared that 

 it was "a reproach to the throne of Italy." 



The causes which brought about this reform 

 in Italy, in spite of the excitement of war, are as 

 vet unknown. W. T. H. 



