NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



quently the young are born when the crops are green, 

 tender, and especially attractive to caterpillars and 

 other insects which are naturally most abundant at that 

 time. It is, in fact, the Creator's provision against 

 abnormal outbreaks of insect life. It means that at 

 the very time when insects are most abundant and 

 capable of doing the maximum amount of harm in 

 cultivated lands, their enemies the birds begin rearing 

 their families. This means an enormously increased 

 consumption of insects. Numbers of birds, when 

 adult, live mainly, and sometimes entirely, on seeds, 

 but they feed their nestlings on caterpillars and other 

 kinds of destructive larvae. 



Therefore let no man raise his hand against any of 

 our feathered helpers without long and careful observa- 

 tion and subsequent deliberation. The troubles of the 

 New Zealand farmers were not at an end with the 

 suppression of the insect peril. The Scotch thistle 

 had been accidentally or intentionally introduced. It 

 flourished exceedingly in its new environment, and 

 bid fair to take possession of the entire country. The 

 farmers utterly spent themselves in energy and money 

 in their desperate struggle to overthrow this new 

 enemy which threatened their very existence. 



They cut and burnt the plants, poured turpentine 

 on the split stumps to kill the roots, and in other ways 

 sought to exterminate this formidable weed. Their 

 labours were in vain. The weed had come to stay, 

 for the climate was genial, and strongly favoured its 

 rapid growth. The wind carried the clouds of thistle- 

 down far and wide and, wherever it fell, a plant sprang 



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