BIRD-BOXES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " EFECTATOR.1 SIR,—Having read in your issue of February 10th a letter from T. E. Eccles in reference "to a strange custom seen by him last autumn in the Val d'Aosta " of nesting-jars "built into the walls" of the peasant houses and farms, I think it may interest your readers to know their real use. These terra-cotta jars, which are half an oval in form, with a small opening for the bird to pass through, are not built into the wall, as they appear to be, but are suspended on nails to the upper part of the walls, which in some villages are thickly studded with them. They are meant as homes for the sparrows, and are well out of the reach of cats. The peasants periodically rifle the nests, as soon as the young birds are fat
enough to be a succulent morsel. They are then roasted in a long line with small slices of lard between each bird, or stewed and served up with the excellent Piedmontese dish made of maize flower called " polenta." Here in Umbria there is an old custom of leaving square holes in the walls, under the eaves, above each of the highest beams, which pro- ject about a quarter of a yard in front of them. These make little platforms for the pigeons to alight upon, and the holes serve for cots for them in which to sleep and nest.—I am, Sir, &C., COUNT SOLONE DI CAXPELLO, Arrone, Prov. Perugia.
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