NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Out in the fields the partridge, plover, lark, and 

 other ground birds peck the ticks from the grass 

 stems. 



Thus by waging incessant war on the insects which 

 carry disease microbes to man and beast, the bird is 

 rendering a service which cannot be overestimated. 

 Should a few of them, when driven by hunger, take a 

 little grain, is it robbery ? Have we the moral right 

 to brand them as impudent thieves, and cry aloud for 

 their extermination ? If it were not for the services 

 of the bird in catching and destroying disease-producing 

 insects, man would make no headway. It is question- 

 able whether he could even manage to exist, except in 

 a miserable way and in very limited numbers. 



The United States Government, on the accession 

 of Mr Wilson as President, issued an order forbidding, 

 under heavy penalties, the destruction of any wild 

 bird in the Panama Canal zone. This was real 

 Solomonic wisdom, and it makes one wish other 

 governmental bodies were as wide awake in their 

 efforts to reduce the ravages of diseases. 



Bilharzia is a terrible scourge of the human race 

 in Africa, Southern Asia, and even South America. 

 It is caused by a circaria worm of microscopic size 

 which lives in fresh water streams, ponds, and marshes. 

 It enters the body usually when bathing, through 

 the human skin and the mucous membranes of the 

 mouth and throat, and produces an incurable disease. 

 It has been ascertained that snails and other fresh water 

 molluscs, crustaceans, and the water-dwelling larvae 

 of various winged insects act as intermediary hosts 



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