Tkavers. — The Bird as the Labourer of Man. 9 



the noise they made when in great numbers was actually 

 deafening. 



As regards our ordinary cultivated plants, the agricul- 

 turist, the fruit-grower, and the gardener are at one in their 

 complaints of the ravages committed by various forms of 

 "insect pests," and the language used by Mr. French in his 

 " Handbook of the Destructive Insects of Victoria " is equally 

 applicable to those found in this colony. There, as here, one 

 of "the principal troubles which persons engaged in the culti- 

 vation of the soil have to contend against is the existence of 

 innumerable pests, and he points out that the time has ar- 

 rived when, if the people of that colony are to fight success- 

 fully against them, united action and constant vigilance would 

 have to be exercised, and he especially urges that knowledge 

 must be gained by regular and unprejudiced observation and 

 by carefully conducted experiments. As a principal means of 

 insuring the desired balance of nature he emphasizes the 

 necessity for preserving insect-destroying birds. He points 

 out that to all who are engaged in either farming or fruit- 

 growing the preservation of their useful friends, the insect-de- 

 stroying birds, is of the very greatest importance. " Nature " 

 he says, " maintains a balance between the numbers of the 

 birds, beasts, insects, plants, &c, in any district. If by arti- 

 ficial means we destroy this balance, immediately intolerable 

 numbers of some kind remain with us, and we have to expend 

 much money and labour to rid ourselves of the swarms which 

 Nature was ready to dispose of for us without charge." Quot- 

 ing from Mr. Tyron's valuable work on the fungus and insect 

 pests of Queensland, where, as you know, the cattle-tick often 

 does enormous mischief, he adds "that if the arrangements 

 of Nature were left undisturbed the result would be a whole- 

 some equilibrium of destruction. The birds would kill so 

 many insects that the insects could not kill too many plants. 

 One class is a match for the other. A certain insect was 

 found to lay 2,000 eggs, but a single ' tom-tit ' was found to 

 devour 200,000 eggs in a year. A swallow devours 543 in- 

 sects in a day, eggs and all. This is the whole case in a nut- 

 shell : the birds will do yeoman service and ask for no wages." 

 He then adds, " How and by what means is the wholesale 

 destruction of the insectivorous birds of Victoria to be 

 checked ? This would seem to be a somewhat difficult ques- 

 tion to answer, for have we not already game laws ; but are 

 they carried out ? To secure active co-operation in the direc- 

 tion of the preservation of insectivorous birds we must be 

 able to show those interested the difference between the 

 noxious and the beneficial ; to point out to those who are 

 engaged in our great rural industries that their interest lies 

 in_ uniting to maintain the balance which Nature has given 



