28 NOVEMBER 1931, Page 13

IMPORTED BIRDS.

We are used in England to the importation of Hungarian partridges, which in some counties have done much to multiply and strengthen the home stock. In a wholly remark- able news paragraph recently telegraphed it is reported that the Hungarians are exporting that other game bird, the live sparrow, into France for the sake of the gourmets, who assert that they are of much superior flavour to the French variety 1 It is a coincidence that the other day a biologist suggested to me that someone should collect groups of sparrows from a number of different countries in order to discover whether they had begun to alter in obedience to environ- ment. The comparison might throw light on an interesting Darwinian problem. It did not, I think, occur to hi►n that the flavours as well as the plumage and structure might be compared ! Throughout southern Europe—certainly in France, Spain and Italy—small birds arc killed in large numbers for food, whether they be common or rare. In my experience the most persistent pursuit of tiny birds is round about Malaga. You do not hear the frequent gunshot that distresses the ear at St. Raphael or Hendaye (to recall personal experiences), but the place is beset with traps at any and every season of the year. The very youngest and the oldest share in this pastime. In the south of France at any rate the farmers' protest against the destruction of their friends begins to be heard and to be given due publicity by public bodies. Such preservation might well occupy the attention of the League of Nations. After all, there arc more important things than politics.

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