NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



other birds wage war on mature blood-sucking blow 

 and common house flies. 



White eyes, warblers, wrens, sun birds, and many 

 other species hunt the mosquitoes from their lurking- 



Diagram of the Digestive Organs of the House Fly. 



1 . The Proboscis or Sucker by which food is drawn up. 



2. The Tube through which food passes to the crop. 



3. Crop or Bag in which the food is stored. The rly vomits the food, 



a drop at a time, on whatever it may be sitting on. It is then 

 sucked up a second time and passes into the real stomach, where 

 it is digested. 



4. The Stomach. 5. Intestines. 6. The Vent. 



Disease microbes pass through the fly's digestive tract and issue forth alive. 

 They cling to the fly's feet and body. Flies, in consequence, are 

 spreaders of diseases. Birds are their enemies. 



places amidst the foliage, and feed upon them. The 

 night jar, miscalled a night hawk, attacks them on the 

 wing by night. This bird has a capacious stomach 

 and extremely rapid digestion, and a single bird can 

 account for at least a thousand mosquitoes in a night. 

 Who has not seen the swallows, martins, and swifts 

 at sundown skimming low over the ground until night 



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