A Terrible Vengeance

A Prendí novelistsomewhere gaya of the Eoglishman, "Let us go out and kill somethiug !" 'l'liis is his idea ol' the Kiiglismati's practico. But he forgets his own countrymen. We have stül kep( our birds, thougli inany have boen destroyed by cold and liunger during these latter winters, and mauy more by thooting and battues. Stil I our birds are the glory oí' the land - gloria in excelsis ! But in France the fieldt are mute. There is no music from the skins. The larks have been netted and eaten. The birds of gay plumage have heen shot and their wings put in ladies' bonnets. All over the country sparrows, fiuches, robbina and nightingales have disujipeared. All are killed and caten. But now comes the punishment. Tho trees ar,e eaten bare ; the vine is destroyed by phylloxerse ; the leaves of' the shrubs are devoured by cateipillars. They are seen hanging in buncb.es from the trees. The birds have been killed that destroyed the grubs and phyllozeraea. Henee destruction is gpreading over France. The crops are eaten up at the roots, and the vine is in some districts entirely fruitless. Tliis iuhuuianity, liko curses, cotDM home to roo.st. 'a'ertün has calculated that a single pair of' sparrows destroy as many grubs in one day as would have eaten up balfan acre ofyoung corn in a week. And the London Tin. I 'ar the matter of birds, France is a dark and hilent tand. The ere searohes ín vain, the ear listens in vaiu, for ziaturu tinne sits lamcuting her ahilaren that are tiot. Whatevcr may be said for republican institutions and pro]irietary, they can claim no partnership with nature, who clings rather to hor old friends, feadaliam aud aristocracy. If there were reported anywhere in France as great a nuinber of' birds of gay plumage and thrilling song as may be seen and heard aluiost anywhere a few miles from the metropolis, populatious would turn out in f'ancy costumes, carrying guus and large bags, followed by nondescript of dogs, aud ready to watch whole days for the chance of a viotiia within eay range. In Italy birds are used for the amusement of children. A string is tied to a bird's leg. Whcu the bird tries to fly, it is pulled down by the string. V'heu its powers of flight are exliausted, it is generally plucked alive, and dismembered. The children do not uuderstand that a beast or a bird can be a fcllow-ereature. When expostulated with, they answer, "Non e Dristano" - It is not a Christian.