lE'.^I^T III. 



NSECT AND SeED-EATING BiRDS, 



There are a number of birds that confine themselves neither 

 to vegetable nor animal food. They serve the interests of 

 the agriculturist and fruit-grower by eating numerous kinds of 

 lowly- organized animals and seeds of uncultivated plants, or 

 seed not further needed. The Quail is an example. It checks 

 the insects harboured in the fields, in addition to consuming a 

 large proportion of seeds not needed for growing purposes. 

 Birds as the Pipit, Song- Lark, Grass- Warbler, and Whiteface, 

 though seed-eating as well as insectivorous, play so important 

 a part in the economy of agriculture that they have been 

 placed in the leading head. It may be thought the Magpies 

 should rank under this category, but they appear to me to be 

 so genuinely insectivorous that I have placed them in the 

 first part. The Mallee Fowl, because of its unique position in 

 the bird fauna, and its approaching time of extinction in the 

 east, is worthy of special notice. A further record of its 

 habits, very different from those of other birds beyond 

 mound-builders, should make interesting and instructive 

 reading. 



