148 Leach, The Birds of Victoria. \^''%e^''^' 



It is a valuable insect destroyer, and it is short-sighted policy 

 to kill a bird for the table which has a much greater value as an 

 insect destroyer. 



In order eleven — Gruiformes, or Cranes — we have, fortun- 

 ately, one representative, the Native Companion, the only true 

 crane found in Australia. They are interesting birds, with 

 their " quadrille parties," " corroborees," dances, &c. They 

 live chiefly on vermin — insects, lizards, &c. The great Gould 

 says : — " Its presence adds greatly to the interest of the 

 scenery." Would that more Victorians thought so ! 



Order twelve, Ardeiformes, contains the ibises, spoonbills, 

 storks, egrets, herons, and bitterns. We have the equivalent 

 of the valuable Sacred Ibis of the Egyptians — a bird they 

 regarded as the saviour of their country. We also have the even 

 more valuable plain-frequenting Straw-necked Ibis, which has 

 an insatiable appetite for grasshoppers and destructive insects. 

 This bird is worth much to Australia, and yet short-sighted 

 farmers often shoot them. A third ibis is identical with the 

 little Glossy Ibis of Europe. 



Spoonbills are world-wide, and we have two — the Royal and 

 the Yellow-billed. The Australian stork is not found so far 

 south as Victoria. 



Now come those beautiful birds the Egrets. Man's cupidity 

 and selfishness, and woman's desire for ornament, seem to have 

 doomed the birds to certain destruction, and, indeed, total 

 extermination, for the plume trade, which is responsible for some 

 of the " most abominable cruelty practised in the animal 

 world," is a war of extermination. These birds are extremely 

 shy, and are approachable only in the breeding season, when 

 they, in obedience to parental instincts and feelings, become 

 brave in the defence of their young. The inhuman plume- 

 hunters then visit the rookeries in the great Riverina swamps, 

 and shoot the parents in cold blood, leaving the helpless, almost 

 perfectly feathered, young to die miserably in the nest, so high 

 overhead. And all for what ? I cannot see that any lady needs 

 help from these plumes to enable her to look more attractive, 

 for it is just as much a ridiculous and wasteful excess as to 

 " paint the lily" or to " gild refined gold." Those engaged in 

 the trade resort to the mean trick of calling the plumes " osprey 

 plumes." Now, the Osprey is a fish-hawk, and so possibly of 

 little use to the land dweller, but these plumes grow on the 

 back and neck of a valuable insect destroyer. The extent of 

 this trade is appalling. For one plume sale held in London on 

 4th August, 1909, the breeding plumes of 24,000 birds were 

 offered for sale. Think of it ! The slow starvation of 40.000 

 nestlings, the death of 64,000 birds, to provide the plumes for 

 one day's sale. No, ladies ! Wear ostrich plumes and 



