98 Mr. J. Buckland on 



up hurriedl}', like engines to a fire, and dragged to and fro 

 over the crawling masses until the huge cylinders stuck fast 

 in a mire of crushed insects. I have seen large ditches dug 

 in an attempt to stop the invaders' progress. The effort was 

 as futile as that of a child who builds a bank of sand by the 

 sea, thinking it will stem the oncoming tide. Even railway 

 trains were brought to a standstill, the wheels of the engines 

 being unable to grip the rails owing to the countless hordes 

 of caterpillars which were crossing the line. 



In time it became abundantly clear that if this disastrous 

 condition of affairs continued it would bo useless to attempt 

 to carry on agriculture in New Zealand. Realising that any 

 attempt which they might make to rid the smitten land of 

 the plague would be but a mockery, the farmers turned their 

 eyes longingly to the natural enemy of the caterpillar — the 

 bird. But the native birds — though they had lived in 

 closest companionship with the Maoris — had been taught 

 the treachery of the white man in a school that reeked with 

 blood, and those that had not been killed had retreated from 

 the vicinity of the settlements, visiting the insect-ridden 

 fields occasionally only. 



Wherefore insectivorous birds from the old country were 

 introduced, and the one that multiplied most rapidly was the 

 Sparrow. And the Sparrow soon cut short the career of the 

 caterpillars. 



I have said that birds, because of their unrivalled powers 

 of locomotion, are peculiarly adapted to suppressing unusual 

 outbreaks of vegetable as well as of animal life. Here is an 

 instance of this. 



That formidable imjiorted weed, the variegated Scutch 

 thistle, threatened at one time to overrun the whole of New 

 Zealand. AVliero it had once fairly established itself it 

 seemed well-nigh impossible to eradicate it ; and it was 

 spreading with the speed of scandal. Much time and money 

 ■were spent in cutting off the plants close to the ground, and 

 in pouring tur[)entine upon the stumps. But the wind- 

 driven clouds of thistle-down, which were planting the weed 

 far and wide, grew yearly denser and more frequent. At 



