NATURAL ENEMIES OF BIRDS 



NATURAL ENEMIES OF BIRDS 



Like all other living creatures, birds have their 

 natural enemies. The natural enemies of bird life 

 sufficed, in the past, to maintain the balance between 

 bird and insect. However, that era is dead and gone. 

 Man has made his advent and has overspread the earth. 

 As the ages roll by his struggle for existence will 

 become increasingly keen, until every foot of arable 

 soil will be cultivated. The utilisation of the soil by 

 man for the production of food and timber has resulted 

 in an abnormal increase of insect life. Food of a rich 

 and succulent nature is provided by man for the 

 insect hosts, and he at the same time has consistently 

 and persistently persecuted the feathered enemies of 

 insects. The production of crops favours the rapid 

 multiplication of insect life. Consequently it is 

 necessary for us to take active measures to conserve 

 bird life. We must avail ourselves of every means of 

 increasing the numbers of insect-eating birds. 



The destruction of some of the principal natural 

 enemies of birds is one of those ways. We no longer 

 require the services of these natural enemies of bird life. 



With the advent of the agricultural and pastoral 

 phases of human culture, conditions have changed. 

 We are apt to regard all snakes, for instance, as enemies. 

 This is a grave error. The great majority of snakes 

 prey eagerly on rats. A number of species of snakes 

 in South Africa are non-venomous ; many others, al- 

 though more or less venomous, rarely inflict a poisonous 



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