NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



logical Service took the matter up just in time. A 

 worm was devastating the cotton crops, and thousands 

 of people were being steadily but surely beggared. 

 The Egyptian Zoological Service did not preach 

 humanity or kindness. The natives were simply told : 

 " A worm is destroying your cotton crops. The 

 egret feeds on those worms. The plumage hunters 

 kill the egret for profit and take the money out of the 

 country. The matter is in your hands." That 

 was enough : the egret has at last come into his 

 own. From a few captive egrets in the Zoological 

 Gardens fifteen egrets were hatched in 1 9 1 3. These 

 have now multiplied and spread all over Egypt. 

 It is universally admitted the egret has saved Egypt's 

 population from penury and averted national 

 bankruptcy. 



If a man possesses one talent and cultivates and 

 uses it for unselfish purposes, he is an infinitely better 

 man than he who has two talents and uses them for 

 the acquirement of wealth for self-gratification. Man 

 is so absorbed in the pursuit of wealth and the gratifica- 

 tion of personal desires and passions that he has no 

 time for study and meditation. Does he pause and 

 consider when he buys his boy an air-gun or shot- 

 gun ? Does he ask himself what use his son is 

 likely to make of the gift ? If he considers the matter 

 at all he will know that the impelling instinct of a 

 boy is to sally forth and kill some defenceless creature 

 unless he has previously received a thorough moral 

 and humane education. To refrain from committing 

 a harmful or dishonourable act only because of the 



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