THE USEFUL BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 247 



The inclusion of Honey-eaters amongst the birds known as 

 insectivorous and frugivorous needs a word of explanation. 

 When there is honey, it is preferred by this family before 

 anything else ; when there is none, the next move is in favour 

 of fruit ; and if this has gone, insects, large and small, are 

 resorted to. 



The Cuckoo-Shrikes and Silver-eyes are spoken of in very 

 strong English by the majority of growers during portions of 

 the summer months. Yet, if one presses intelligent growers 

 to admit a knowledge of their habits during ten months of the 

 year, one will find, as I have found, that when weighed in the 

 balance the scale in the bird's favour goes down at once and 

 heavily. No one person or thing in this world gets all of any 

 one way — neither the bird, the grower, nor the grown ; and it 

 is a fact that, while all parties appear to demand individual 

 rights, one from the soil and the others from the garden, they 

 are indispensable to each other in the working out of the great 

 scheme. 



Australia has no bird that proves so disastrous to rural 

 industries as the introduced Sparrow. A law for its stringent 

 suppression should be a satisfactory one. Everywhere birds 

 that keep in subjection untold milUons of creatures during the 

 year naturally expect a change of diet in three months of it. 

 They have earned it, and get it if they can. Growers are not 

 bound to give it, but for their own broad interests they 

 should destroy them to as small a degree as possible. Strong 

 provision should be made to frighten the great bulk of the 

 birds away from the gardens at " ripening " time, but at that 

 time only. 



