yO CAMPKiiLL, I- ynit-catiiig Binls. F-^nd'oct 



of young to attend to away in the forest, and so the soft berry 

 fruits, as well as apricots and many peaches, mature unharmed. 

 Only along river frontages or adjacent to forest areas are orchards 

 liable to the depredations of native birds at this time of the year. 



Further, it is well known that most fruits are mature some time 

 before ripe, and, as they are independent of the parent tree, can 

 be picked, and will ripen as well, if not better, in the storeroom 

 or in cases on the way to market. So if the orchardist is abreast 

 of his work the birds are cheated of their spoil. 



If birds, native or introduced, should be persistent at any time 

 of the season, especially on fruits not yet mature, ingenious scare- 

 crows are very effective in frightening them away, but they may 

 come in such numbers at times that there is nothing for it but to 

 employ several guns to keej) the birds persistently scared and save 

 the crop. 



Birds troublesome to orchardists are — Raven, Black and Grey 

 Magpies, Bower-Birds, Leatherhead (Friar-Bird), Wattle-Bircl, 

 White-plumed Honey-eater, White-eye, and occasionally the Black- 

 backed Magpie, besides the introduced Sparrow, Thrush, Blackbird, 

 Minah, and Starling. One species in one district and one in another 

 may be a source of some annoyance, but all the native birds are 

 shy in the extreme and easily kept away by a determined effort. 



2. To the farmer those specially troublesome are the Magpie 

 (both Black-backed and White-backed), White Cockatoo, the Galah, 

 and perhaps the Ibis and the Native Companion. These put in 

 an appearance at sowing time and pick up as much wheat as they 

 can find upon the surface, where, incidentally, the grain would never 

 germinate well. But it is far more likely that such birds as the 

 Magpie, the Ibis, and the Native Companion are attracted to the 

 corn field by the number of cutworms, caterpillars, and chafer 

 grubs, and possibly locusts, which are there also, much more eager 

 for the sown grain. It is quite correct for the present to refer to 

 these as fruit-eating birds, because the wheat grain is botanically 

 a fruit and not a seed. 



3. In producing industries which take the fruit of the land 

 in other forms there are birds of special interest to be touched upon. 

 To the pastoralist the Raven and the Eaglehawk are a source of loss 

 in the lambing season, to the poultry farmer the Hawks, and to the 

 beekeeper the Wood-Swallow and the Bee-eater all demand a share 

 in the profits. But to direct attention to the absurd way in which 

 the birds are treated it is only necessary to state the case of the 

 Hawks. Because a few young poultry are taken (when they ought 

 to have at least some cover to run to) there is a general desire to 

 shoot all and sundry. Now there are only three species known 

 to pilfer about the fowl-yard, and they only appear in the late 

 summer and autumn, being busy themselves in rearing young away 

 in some secluded forest during the time of the year when the main 

 crop of chickens is about. 



Among these birds enumerated under the first group are 

 some of the confessedly most useful insectivorous birds, the imj)or- 



