QI4. Bird Profeciion. f E"^" ., 



J T" \_i9~\. April 



" This has been forcibly ilhistrated by T. Bainbrigge Fletcher 

 in his work on ' Some South Indian Insects,' where he takes the 

 case of an insect laying only 200 eggs, and having a life-cycle of 

 one month. Starting with ist January for convenience, a single 

 fertilized female lays 200 eggs, of which, on the average, half will 

 be females, each of which will lay 200 eggs on ist February. By 

 the end of February we have 100 x 200 — 20,000 mature insects. 

 Continuing, simple calculation shows that, by the end of the year, 

 the descendants would reach the prodigious total of two septillions 

 (2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of individuals. The human 

 mind is quite incapable of grasping the significance of such a 

 figure, but a few comparisons may assist the imagination. If 

 1,000 of the insects weighed only i oz., their united weight would 

 be 558,035,718,571,425.5 tons, and if 1,000 measured one cubic 

 inch they would cover an area of almost 50 billion square miles 

 with a uniform layer one inch deep. Taking the dry surface of 

 the whole earth to be 51 millions of square miles, they would 

 cover the whole of this to a depth of over 81 feet. 



" Figures such as these are suggestive of what may take place 

 if an insect meets with particularly favourable conditions for 

 development. Probably the most important of these are — (i) 

 favourable climate, (2) abundant food, (3) freedom from enemies. 

 Nature is usually nicely balanced, so that no species becomes 

 predominant. Man, however, is often the means of upsetting 

 this balance by transferring insects to new countries, where, 

 removed from their natural enemies, they often become serious 

 pests ; or, again, by cutting the forest he interferes with the 

 nesting of insectivorous birds, &c., with the result that his props 

 are destroyed until Nature is again able to maintain her balance. 



"It is now well recognized that man is able to greatly assist 

 Nature in regaining this equilibrium ; and much has been done 

 by the introduction of insect parasites. It is possible, however, 

 to do just as important work by encouraging the birds through 

 protection, &c., so that they will multiply near our homes." — 

 From Daily Mail, Brisbane. 



Shooting Wild Ducks, 

 two young fellows convicted. 



Further prosecutions were initiated in connection with the close 

 season by the secretary of the Native Birds' Association (Mr. 

 P. V. Maloney) in the Rockhampton (0.) Summons Court recently, 

 when two young fellows, Fred. Fox and Stanley Moore, were 

 charged with having unlawfully killed wild Ducks during the 

 close season. The defendants pleaded guilty. 



Mr. K. Allen (instructed by Rees R. and Sydney Jones), who 

 appeared for the complainant, stated that about half-past 

 7 o'clock on Sunday evening, 17th November, Constable Bahr 

 intercepted a motor-car driven by Harry Green, containing six 

 passengers, amongst whom were the accused. The constable said 

 that complaints had been made about shooting Ducks, and asked 



