NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



sible for the supply of 30,000 to 40,000 cabbages 

 and cauliflowers, and tons of turnips, carrots, etc., 

 and my experience has been that of many. There 

 was never such a season when everything was overrun 

 with insect filth, but in a most remarkable way seed- 

 eating birds like linnets, sparrows, finches, and 

 many others swarmed down upon the fields and ate 

 up legions. But for this there must have been an 

 absolute famine in these vegetables." 



It must be borne in mind that the cultivation of 

 land -powerfully favours an eruption of insects^ and that 

 as a consequence an unusually large number of birds are 

 required to keep them in check. 



In South Africa the migratory locust does immense 

 damage to crops, pasturage, and forests. For twenty 

 years and more a campaign has been waged against 

 this mighty host. The fight still proceeds with 

 varying success. The slightest relaxation of the 

 pressure exerted by the Agricultural Department of 

 Government and the farmers is quickly followed by 

 an increase in the numbers of devastating swarms of 

 locusts. 



Here again we have cause and effect. Ever since 

 the advent of the European settler to South Africa, 

 the wild birds have been persecuted. The so-called 

 game birds — such as guinea-fowl, partridge, and quail, 

 the storks, cranes, herons, and ibises — have been 

 harried, hunted, and slain. As a direct result of this 

 steady reduction of their chief natural enemies, the 

 locusts and grasshoppers have increased abnormally. 

 Ave ! truly our sins have overtaken us. Money 



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