the Value of Birds to Man. 107 



Again, at one time, in New Zealand, it was no uncommon 

 tiling to see English grass wither up in large patches, as 

 though scorched by fire. This was due to the work of a 

 crane-flj and click-beetle, the Inrvse of both of which were 

 addicted to the habit of eating the roots of the grass, just 

 under the surface. English grass was then comparatively 

 limited in the up-countrj^ districts, and, as there are large 

 tracts of land in New Zealand destitute of native grasses, the 

 depredations of these insects became a serious matter to 

 those settlers who had stock to feed, and who were relying on 

 the English grass to feed them. It was all the more serious 

 because the insects were without any natural chock, the 

 native birds which had kept their numbers down before the 

 advent of the white man having been scared from the 

 vicinity of the homesteads. So the beetles continued to 

 make merry, to marry, and to multiply. In a corresponding 

 ratio the grass continued to fade, to wither, and to die. 



Then came the English Starling ; and so voraciously did it 

 feed on the larvpe that soon all was green again. 



Without birds, provided insects were present, grass could 

 not be grown. The grub of a single species of beetle, if 

 unchecked, could destroy all the grass roots of our meadows, 

 or any one of the several species of cut-worms might be 

 sufficient to destroy all the verdure above ground. 



Hawks and Owls. 



The injury to crops and grass by insects is not the only 

 evil that threatens man as a sequence to the destruction 

 of birds. Rapacious birds hold a chief place among the 

 forces which are appointed to hold in chock small rodents, 

 which breed rapidly, and, unless ko[)t within bounds, are 

 exceedingly destructive. Yet, notwithst;uuling the unani- 

 mous testimony of careful students of birds and thoir food 

 habits, to the effect that almost all Hawks and Owls are 

 beneficial, a wide-spread prejudice still exists against them. 

 Tliey are slain as relentlessly as if they were enemies instead 

 of friends of the farmer. 



VOL. viii. y 



