582 TEACHING OF ECONOMIC NATURAL HISTORY. 



these insect hosts. Without birds, the human race coald not live. 

 Man's puny, unaided efforts to combat the invasion of the insect 

 hordes would be about as effective as a single man shooting^ with 

 a rifle into an advancing army of a million armed men, with the 

 object of checking their progress. The direct and indirect 

 damage done by insects and other closely-allied forms of 

 life in South Africa amount to many millions sterling annually. 

 By dissipating the prevailing ignorance on the economic value of 

 our native birds, backed up by effective legislation, this loss could 

 be largely reduced. There are over 900 species and sub-species 

 of birds in South Africa, and of these not more than a score of 

 species can be regarded as more harmful than beneficial 

 to man. The number of birds which may be regarded 

 as vermin do not exceed a dozen species. Owing to 

 the scarcity of their natural diet, otherwise useful birds 

 become at times temporarily harmful. For instance, cer- 

 tain species of seed-eating birds are apt to increase unduly and 

 prove a pest to the agriculturalist. These same birds on a stack 

 ,farm cannot increase to an abnormal extent in numbers owing to 

 lack of food, and in these conditions they render great service in 

 destroying insect life, and the seeds of noxious weeds. The 

 belief is general that seed-eating birds are of no economic value 

 beyond eating the seeds of weeds. This is far from being true. 

 Seed-eating birls readily devour -insects, and what is more im- 

 portant, they feed their nestlings on both the larvae and adult 

 insects. These birds rear their families in the spring and early 

 summer when insects are very active, and the young and tender 

 crops require the maximum amount of protection. 



It is true that the majority of birds are protected by law in 

 the various Divisional centres of the Union, but no special eft'orts 

 are made to enforce the law, or to bring home to children the 

 reasons why birds are protected. In consequence, our feathered 

 iriends are wantonly destroyed in a wholesale manner all over 

 the Union. 



The economic value of our native birds is inestimable, and 

 it would certainly be highly desirable to impart some information 

 to our children on this important branch of economic natural 

 history. The lack of knowledge in regard to the bearing of birds 

 on the prosperity of the people of South Africa extends to every 

 other branch of Natural History. There are, for instance, a larg< 

 number of rats and mice native to the countrv. in addition to the 

 imported rats and mice which infest our dwellino-s. These rodents 

 are a heavy handican on the country. The annual losses 

 traceable to them directly and indirectly in the Union 

 of South Africa would exceed a million pounds. These 

 vermin exact a heavy toll on the products of the farm, 

 ycung trees and native vegetation generally. In the 

 villages, towns and cities, they devour an appreciable per- 

 centage of all forms of foodstuffs ; and are an ever-present 

 menace in connection with the spread of plaofue. nnrl the dis- 

 semination of various forms of disease bacteria. Owls, hawks. 



