NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



birds, such as the muis vogel and bulbul, used little 

 or no discrimination. The sight of a bird in the fruit 

 trees is proof to them it is a pest. Even should a man 

 confine himself to shooting true fruit-eating birds, 

 the frequent discharge of his shot-gun will damage the 

 trees and terrify all the birds in the neighbourhood, 

 causing them to abandon the locality for a safer habitat. 

 Unless other means such as pellet guns are used, it is 

 often more profitable to allow the fruit-eating birds 

 to take a toll of the fruit than to lose the entire crop 

 and risk damage to the trees themselves by insects 

 and their larvae. 



If decoy bulbuls and muis vogels are placed in 

 cages and limed twigs are placed over or near the 

 cages, considerable numbers of these birds may be 

 caught. Another method is the trap cage. The 

 mouse bird or muis vogel can be destroyed in three 

 ways : — 



i. Injecting a solution of strychnine into ripe 

 fruit. This is a rather risky proceeding, and may 

 easily lead to accidental poisoning of children. 



2. The muis vogels have a habit of roosting in a 

 bunch, clustering like a swarm of bees. If their roost- 

 ing place can be located, a single charge of small shot 

 will destroy a large number. . On cold, cloudy days 

 they may often be seen in clusters in the fruit trees. 



3. The most efficient way is to trap them. The 

 trap is a simple contrivance, and is made of ^-inch 

 mesh wire netting stretched on a frame of No. 6 or 

 No. 7 fencing wire, and fashioned like an eel trap 

 with a funnel at one end. Some fruit is placed on a 



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