SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



with very drastic punishments to be meted out to the man who transgressed, 

 it is only within quite modern times that such a thing as protecting birds 

 and animals has been considered in any other manner. The first acts to 

 come into force have always been game laws— not to protect the birds for their 

 beauty or use to the community, but to enable them to breed and increase in 

 order to furnish sport to hunters. Later on, game laws were modified on a 

 more honest plan to protect the animals and birds with a " close season," so 

 that they cculd breed without being molested, their cash value as game having 

 bf^en recognised. Next came the practical observer, who pointed out that 

 the birds that fed upon insects that destroyed plants, pasturage, and crops 

 must also have a cash value to the man who made his living on the land. 

 Then we had the first bird protection acts for the preservation of insecti- 

 vorous birds. 



Bird Protection in Australia. 



It was a very long time, however, before the many Australian Game Acts 

 wei'e framed to include anything but game birds, which were protected by a 

 close season during the time they were nesting. The value or beauty of 

 insectivorous or harmless birds was not considered; the acts were simply game 

 acts. 



One of the forerunners of legal protection for harmle-s and useful birds 

 was the publication by the Department of Education in Victoria of a " Chart 

 of the Insectivorous Birds of Victoria." This gave coloured representations 

 of a number of the best known useful birds, and was hung in all the country 

 schools about thirty years ago. In his " Report upon Insect and Fungus 

 Pests in Queensland," in 1889, Tryon published some interesting notes on the 

 value of insectivorous birds, and gave a list of those found in the Toowoomba 

 district. Later, French added plates and popular descriptions of insectivorous 

 birds to his "Handbook of the Injurious Insects of Victoria." 



In the Victorian Bird Protection Act of 1890, in addition to the close 

 season for game l)irds, fifty groups of insectivorous birds were scheduled, 

 including a number of introduced species that were to be protected all the 

 year round. Some of these introduced species are now looked upon as pests. 

 Since then, all the Australian States have made additions to their old acts, 

 or brought out more modern cmes, and sanctuaries have been created in lakes, 

 swamps, estuaries, and forest areas. Many private landowners are now pro- 

 tecting the wild life on their estates. In 1901, the New South Wales Bird 

 Protection Act came into force. This included a list of 105 species of insec- 

 tivorous birds, absolutely protected from the 3 1st of October, 1905, until the 

 same date of 1915. In a proclamation issued early in 1907 other birds were 

 added to this list, and twelve groups of introduced game and song birds were 

 also included. 



The Bird and Animals Protection Act of 1918, now in force, is very much 

 in advance of all the previous acts ; as, unencumbered with long lists of the 

 scientific names of the protected birds and animals, it simply gives a list of 



