^ 'i.,^.''^ J Correspondence. >25 



iij^ainst tlu'sc l)ircls. Tlu" fact remains, liowrvcr, that before the 

 advent of wliite men, our streams teemed witli native Hsli of no 

 mean qiialit}', and the maUgned Cormorant tlien lield undisputed 

 sway, as he would be a sore-pressed aboriginal indeed who would 

 include Shag in his daily menu. Nowadays Shags are considered 

 fair sport by every possessor of a firearm, and, moreover, their 

 breeding grounds are often raided and destroyed ; yet we are told 

 that the Cormorant (not the angler, or drum netter, or dynami- 

 ter) is clearing out the waterways. 



Possil)ly it is, but it is a very serious thing indeed to derrcc 

 its destruction, without first most exliaustively incpiiring into all 

 the pros and cons of the case. 



The writer heard recently of an instance where an angler, 

 returning from a \-isit to the south-eastern streams of Australia, 

 blamed his want of luck to the fact that Cormorants had cleared 

 out the fish. Unfortunately for him, another angler, who visited 

 the same localities about a week later, said that he had rarely 

 liad better fortune in all his long fishing experience. 



If tlie Cormorant is a menace, it should certainly go ; ])ut let 

 us make doubly sure, lest we do ourselves even a greater injury. 

 It is no light matter to attempt to upset the balance of nature. 



I mention this matter as showing one of the instances where 

 our information is of a woefully inadequate nature, and where 

 there is room for mucli good work to be done by those who are 

 favourably situated. -Yours, cSrc, J. ERASMUS WILSON. 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 

 SiKS, — I have read Capt. White's letter of 5/12/iq, in 'The Emu 

 of January, 19-20, in reply to mine of 13/7/19, in The Emu of 

 October, 1919. Capt. White thinks I have taken up the subject 

 of the Cormorants rather hotly. I think if some other orni- 

 thologists who I know are of the same opinion as myself had 

 written an article on this argument they would have expressed 

 their ^'iews decidedly more emphatically. 



Capt. White says Cormorants are of more value to Australia 

 than imported fish (that is entirely a matter of opinion) which 

 give a limited numb(>r of people amusement, and that he does 

 not follow the art of ily-fishing. No more do I. It might 

 surprise Capt. White to know that I have never cast a fly in 

 my life, nor have I, as far as I know, ever caught an imported 

 species of fish. He also states that Cormorants were here thou- 

 sands of years before we came (he cannot prove that), and 

 he asks why they did not exterminate the fish long ago. My 

 answer to that is, probably for the sanu' reason that they did 

 not destroy practically all the bist native fish in many of our 

 rivers, lakes, and lagoons, such as they have done during the last 

 few years. Nobody knows the reason why, l)ut perhaps it is 

 owing to the great increase of the Cormorants, which have eaten 



