Bathgate. — The Sparrow Plague and its Remedy. 67 



people, inasmuch as it was a useful stage in the evolution of 

 that moral discipline which is necessary to the advancement 

 of a people. Their passions were not, and are not, disciplined 

 by long centuries of self-control and repression ; they are 

 nearer to nature, and not so imbued with artificial ideas, such 

 as modesty, as is civilised man. Perhaps this lack of long 

 training is why the morality of primitive peoples appears to 

 degenerate when they are brought into contact with the 

 intrusive white man. When I was living in Nevada I often 

 saw Indian men offering their wives to workmen in the rail- 

 road camps ; yet old pioneer settlers informed me that when 

 they first knew the natives such a shameless custom was un- 

 known. Indeed, any of the native women who accepted the 

 advances of a man other than her husband in those days 

 was simply burned to death. 



The evolution of morality among the Maori has been 

 rudely broken by the great changes that have overtaken 

 them. We shall see in the years that lie before if the chain 

 can be mended. 



But do not try to drop too many links. 



Art. V. — The Sparroio Plague and its Remedy. 



By A. Bathgate. 



{Read before the Otago Institute, 8th September, 1903.] 



Sir Walter Buller, in the introduction to " The Birds of 

 New Zealand," writes, "To my mind the popular outcry 

 against the sparrow is scarcely warranted by the actual state 

 of the case. It is only at one particular period of the year, 

 when the farmers' grain is ' dead ripe,' that the bird makes any 

 inroad upon it. In large fields the loss is barely noticeable ; 

 but in the case of a small patch of grain — say, an acre or two — 

 at the edge of the forest or in a bush clearing it naturally 

 becomes a serious matter, because the sparrows appear to 

 concentrate their forces on such inviting spots, and leave 

 practically nothing but straw for the reaper. Hence, of course, 

 the outcry and clamour on the part of the small farmer. But 

 if people really knew how much the country is indebted to this 

 much-abused bird I venture to think that there would be a 

 still louder outcry against the sinful practice, now so general, 

 of poisoning sparrows." He then goes on to assert that the 

 " young birds are fed entirely and exclusively on animal food. 

 Every five minutes or so during the long summer day one or 

 •other of the parent birds visits the nest, carrying in its bill a 



