72 Mr. F. Thomson on 



Quail consumes daily 50 to GO grammes of food, and twenty 

 tiny locusts of the size of a hemp-seed go to a gramme." 

 Hence it follows that, according to his calculations, one Quail 

 alone devours daily one thousand locusts and from twenty to 

 twenty-five thousand during the period in which these insects 

 are small enough to be swallowed by a Quail. The Parisian 

 sportsmen who on the 8th May last year shipped off 50,000 

 Quails to France are, then, in a great measure to blame for 

 the fact that one hundred and fifty millions of locusts less 

 than usual were destroyed by these birds during the year. 



The Hornbills. 



All the South African Hornbills (^Loplwceros leucomelas, 

 L. eri/throrhpicJms, &c.) are locust-eaters. During the years 

 when voetgangers are plentiful, the females and young are 

 exclusively fed on these insects. Their breeding-season falls 

 in November and December, just about the time when the 

 brown locust is in its nymphal stage. The hen bird^ when all 

 the eggs have been laid in a hole in a tree, is plastered in 

 with clay by the male ; only a small slit is left, through 

 which the food is passed. Most authorities agree that the 

 male bird is so hard worked in supplying his family with 

 food that he gets very weak and falls off in condition, barely 

 taking the necessary time to swallow some food. Now, if a 

 swarm of voetgangers is near at hand, the feeding of the 

 female and young is easy work, the male obtaining leisure to 

 rest and to feed himself. I have noticed these birds for hours 

 flying continuously between the voetgangers and clay-hidden 

 nest, they must have therefore done away with a great many 

 young locusts. But, although doing a lot of good, these 

 are not plentiful enough to annihilate large swarms of 

 Toetgangers. 



The Domestic Fowl. 



To see what effect the poisoned locusts would have on 

 Common Fowls, some experiments were made at the Entomo- 

 logical Laboratory at Daspoort, Pretoria. 



