Bathgate. — The Sparrow Plague and its Remedy. 79 



more rapidly than the yellowhammer. It has disappeared 

 from this neighbourhood, but is still to be met with in the 

 country, and as it is a much more active bird, and is destruc- 

 tive in its habits, I believe this to be the bird at which the 

 Proclamation was intended to be aimed. Though the two 

 birds bear some resemblance to one another in plumage, no 

 one with any knowledge of British birds could mistake the one 

 for the other, and the pleasing plaintive little song of the 

 yellowhammer is most distinctive, and it may still be heard in 

 some parts of the colony. This is, however, a trivial matter 

 compared with the failure of the conferences to even forecast 

 any benefits to be derived from the Act. There was abundant 

 evidence of the futility of the whole affair, and the delegates 

 seemed to be fully aware of the fact. ' Some showed this by 

 abstaining from attending : at Dunedin a delegate character- 

 ized the whole affair as "unworkable," but said "it had to 

 be seen through"; while in some conferences the resolution 

 arrived at was that the destruction of the birds should be 

 left in the hands of the Government. The Timaru con- 

 ference resolved "that the Government be asked to offer a 

 bonus of £500 for the most effective method of dealing with 

 the small-bird pest," thereby showing their utter want of 

 confidence in the present Act, and their hopelessness of ex- 

 periencing any beneficial results therefrom, at the same time 

 indicating their opinion of the importance of the question and 

 the necessity for grappling with the problem in an effective 

 manner. 



