NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



live again that which you have killed ? When you 

 kill a bird, does not remorse sometimes overtake you 

 when you think what a miracle of machinery you 

 have stopped by a thoughtless act ? 



" We pass through this world but once. Any 

 good we can do, therefore, or any kindness, let us do 

 it now, for we shall not pass this way again." 



BIRDS AND THE ORCHARD 



Old colonists in South Africa all tell the same tale 

 of how, long ago, the fruit trees were laden with good, 

 sound fruit. Now, the fruit grower in order to obtain 

 even an average crop, is obliged to wage unceasing 

 war on the hosts of insects which devour the trees 

 or lay their eggs in the ripening fruit, rendering it 

 maggoty and useless. Should he grow careless and 

 become slack in his offensive or defensive measures, 

 his crop is ruined. Nearly all this mischief started 

 in and near the towns and villages. Boys and even 

 grown men wantonly persecuted the birds and robbed 

 their nests, and the latter, in consequence, became 

 increasingly shy and scarce. The disappearance of the 

 birds brought about an abnormal increase of the various 

 insects which attack fruit trees and the ripening fruit. 

 Larvae of beetles tunnel the trunks and branches ; 

 caterpillars and certain species of beetles feed on 

 the foliage ; flies and moths lay eggs in the fruit. 

 Farmers, in their anxiety to destroy the fruit-eating 



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