BTRDS AND TTEATTTI 



hats, and the men who kill grame birds. The bird 



gai 



Is 



feed on the larvae of the blood-sucking fly, and when 

 they are persecuted and killed, the fly multiplies and 

 spreads sleeping sickness far and wide. A terrible 

 price surely to pay for vanity, so-called sport, and the 

 pleasure of feasting on the bodies of our feathered 

 allies. 



When a man is murdered in our midst, we 

 demand that the murderer be punished. Yet we are 

 indirectly killing thousands of people by our selfish- 

 ness and indifference. Men and domestic animals are 

 dying annually in multitudes from preventable diseases, 

 and we heed not. Men of science are poorly paid, 

 discouraged, and a deaf ear is often turned to their 

 grave warnings and expert advice, except when the 

 knowledge can be utilised for selfish individual financial 

 gain. 



" And so the dreadful massacre began ; 



O'er fields and orchards, and o'er woodland crests 

 The ceaseless fusillade of terror ran ; 



Dead fell the birds, with bloodstains on their breasts, 

 Or wounded, crept away from sight of man, 



While the young died of famine in their nests : 

 A slaughter to be told in groans, not words, 

 The very St Bartholomew of birds ! " 



Longfellow. 



107 



