NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



grain or fruit. It works in the interests of man all 

 the time without payment. 



Every live quail on a man's land is a valuable asset. 

 Yet, because the little creature has a plump, juicy 

 body, it is mercilessly hunted with dogs and shot down. 



When will economic Natural History be taught 

 to our children ? If other subjects bar the way, 

 then away with some of them and make place for 

 the knowledge every boy and girl should possess. 

 The quail stands in the front rank of birds which 

 should be protected by law. If I were asked to choose 

 a dozen species of birds which I considered served 

 man best, the quail and his first cousin the hemipode 

 or button quail would be two of them. 



There are many ways of increasing the productive- 

 ness of the land and bringing a greater measure of 

 prosperity to a country, but there is no greater than 

 the conservation of bird life. 



I examined the crop of a rook (black crow) which 

 was shot at sundown on a stock farm. There were 

 156 wireworms, 32 blue female ticks, and the larvae 

 of other pests in its crop. 



I have stayed at many stock farms at times, and 

 the owners were unanimous that the rook rendered 

 valuable services. They assert it picks up the gorged 

 female ticks which drop from the cattle preparatory 

 to crawling into suitable cover to deposit from 2,000 

 to 18,000 eggs ; it digs up the larvae of beetles which 

 prey on the roots of pasture, plants, and grasses ; and 

 it devours locusts, grasshoppers, and a variety of other 

 pests which eat the vegetation. 



116 



