A Test of Culture.

Nature love, and the study of birds in particular, are receiving a good deal of publicity in England, even in the daily press. There is an increasing tendency to regard bird-consciousness as one of the evidences of national culture. In the past, and even in the present, birds have had a bad time in some Mediterranean countries, and bird-slaughter there, being along the line of migration, has adversely affected the avi-fauna in other countries. Books have been written on it, and lately a Manchester Guardian writer condemned Italian inhospitality to wild birds. At the same time, he concedes that even Italy has many sanctuaries, such as Franciscan convents. Grape-growers who kill grape-picking birds give a premium to grape-destroying insects that birds would devour. Thus the case for the birds is material as well as cultural.

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