DESTKUCTION OF NATIVE BIRDS IN NEW SOUTH WALES — NORTH. 19 



heath and standing scrub, consequently destroying many hundreds 

 of nests containing eggs or young. 



Many native birds are driven from their usual haunts by the in- 

 troduction and acclimatization of both foreign birds and mammals. 

 Owing to the ample cover around Sydney, the foi-mer evil will not 

 be so apparent for many years as it is at present in Melbourne, 

 which is virtually denuded of its indigenous trees for miles around. 

 In the immediate neighbourhood of the latter city, hardly a single 

 native bird is to be seen. During a fortnight's stay, in March, 

 1899, in a northern suburb five miles from the city, and surrounded 

 on two sides with open paddocks, I observed three species — the 

 House Swallow, the Black-backed Magpie, and the Australian 

 Pipit or "Ground Lark." Some of the missing ones were repre- 

 sented by the ubiquituous Sparrow, the Indian Myna, and the 

 Starling. A couple of miles' walk through paddocks, either way 

 from the station of a southern marine suburb, ten miles from 

 town, revealed an additional three species of native birds — the 

 White-fronted Ephthianura, the White-plumed Honey-eater, and 

 the Yellow-rumped Thornbill. Now from experience I know that 

 in both of these, and many other of the Melbourne suburbs, the 

 native birds were at one time fairly well represented, for they 

 were my early hunting-grounds, and what has happened to Mel- 

 bourne will, in time to come, happen to Sydney and its immediate 

 neighbourhood. At Ashfield, near Sydney, I have seen colonies 

 of the Fairy Martin ousted out of their nests and driven away 

 by the usurping Sparrows; and in the same neighbourhood and 

 around Five Dock and Canterbury, the Starlings are rapidly 

 increasing, and both of these acclimatized birds far outnumber 

 any species of native birds in these suburbs. The Goldfinch, 

 Greenfinch, and Indian Myna, although increasing, are not per- 

 ceptibly numerous at present, and the Skylarks which frequent 

 the Centennial Park, and the open heath-lands of Randwick and 

 Botany, have not apparently interfered with the breeding of 

 terrestrial species. 



It is, however, the importation of foreign mammals that has 

 directly and indirectly caused the destruction of a vast number 

 of our Australian birds, and this loss is still going on day by day. 

 Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been expended in trying 

 to eradicate the Rabbit from the western half of New South 

 Wales. This has been partly accomplished by the erection of 

 rabbit-proof fences, and the laying of poisoned baits. For the 

 latter, phosphorized oats is chiefly used, with the result that in 

 addition to the Rabbits, thousands of granivorous birds perish 

 annually, chiefly the ground and grass-frequenting species of 

 Pigeons, Parakeets, Finches, and Quail. To cope with the 

 Rabbits, domestic cats were also turned loose in the central and 

 south-western divisions of the State, with the result that after 



