THE IMMEDIATE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONVENTION 
93 
breasts, coal titmice etc. Swallows are actually killed with 
the aid of electricity in the South of France. 
The taking of quails is particularly in vogue in the South 
of Sicily, in Naples and on the Capri Islands. In 1887 Capri 
exported 50,000. 
In treating of the traffic in the birds caught special mention 
is due to Como and Varese, where in one day redbreasts 
are sold, not by the hundred but by the thousand, at 
75 centesimo a dozen: but when the power of the sun 
increases, they are actually sold at 5 centesimo a dozen to 
prevent them rotting, etc. etc. 
The writer concluded by saying that he was present at 
the Resurrection Festival in Southern Italy. When the priest 
intoned the Gloria, the congregation let loose the small birds 
they had brought vAih them in the brilliantly lighted church, 
as a mark of the general feeling of joy at the blissful resur- 
rection. The wretched little winged creatures, dazzled by the 
light, flew at the candles only to be burned and scorched 
and to perish in agony. 
The conclusion to be drawn from all this is that bird- 
taking is, with the Italian people, a deeply-rooted passion 
which, through the greatest material interest, that of feeding, 
has wormed its way into the soul and being of the people 
and is, consequently, unconquerable, at least at present. 
This will always be a factor to be reckoned with by the 
Italian Government. 
The immediate preliminaries of the Convention. 
The resolution passed at the Second Ornithological Con- 
gress held at Budapest declared for a return to the Austro- 
Hungaro-Italian „Declaration" of 1875, the value of which 
was proved by the Report of Berlfpsch: had it been put in 
