THE DESTRUCTIVE RODENT 



choose the neighbourhood of a farm for preference 

 when the time arrives to rear a family. 



Birds have many natural enemies. Carnivorous 

 animals, rats, and snakes levy a heavy toll. The 

 venomous boomslang (Dispholidus typus) and the 

 mamba (Dendraspis angusticeps) are highly destructive 

 to eggs and nestlings. Another snake known as the 

 egg-eater or eier vreter (Dasypeltis scabrd) subsists 

 almost exclusively on the eggs of birds. The monitor 

 lizard or leguan {Varanus niloticus) supplements its 

 diet of frogs, grasshoppers, and crabs with birds' eggs 

 and nestlings. The common brown or Norway rat 

 (Mus norvegicus) has been introduced into every 

 country of the world, and thrives exceedingly. It 

 levies a heavy toll on the eggs and young of birds 

 which nest in the vicinity of man. 



Birds of prey attack and kill a limited number of 

 useful birds, and a few species of shrikes and crows 

 occasionally eat eggs and nestlings. However, until 

 man threw his weight into the scale against them, the 

 birds throve and fulfilled their mission in life. 



THE DESTRUCTIVE RODENT 



Closely rivalling the insects in their crop-devouring 

 powers, we have the rodents known as rats and mice. 

 In South Africa there are large numbers of species 

 native to the country, and three imported kinds, viz., 



i6 5 



