NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



obstacles in their way. When the Mormons first 

 settled in Utah, hordes of black crickets swarmed 

 down from the mountains and swept off their crops to 

 the last seedling. What were vast fields of wheat in 

 the morning were as bare as freshly-harrowed land in 

 the evening. The first year's crop was a total failure. 

 The second year's crop promised to yield a huge 

 harvest, for the weather conditions were ideal, but the 

 cricket host again swarmed down and laid the land bare, 

 leaving not a blade of wheat. The Mormons became 

 panic-stricken, for they were on the brink of starvation. 

 Suddenly, as though sent from heaven, hundreds of 

 thousands of Franklin's gull appeared and devoured 

 the crickets, thus saving the settlers from extinction. 



Finding ample food for its needs, this species of 

 gull has been a regular visitor to Utah, and continues 

 to keep the crickets in check. It is, consequently, 

 held sacred by the inhabitants, who have erected a 

 monument to it in Salt Lake City, so that posterity may 

 know these gulls were, and are, keeping the insect 

 hosts in check, and thus preserving the State from the 

 financial ruin which would otherwise overtake it. 



Every country has its hosts of vegetation-devouring 

 insects, and these are kept in check by the native birds. 

 Occasionally they gain the upper hand in one or more 

 localities, but the birds soon discover the fact, and flock 

 to the threatened area and quickly reduce the ranks 

 of the invading host. Should the birds increase 

 unduly in numbers, there is a dearth of insect food, 

 resulting in the migration or dying off of considerable 

 numbers of birds. This decrease in birds again gives 



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