the Value of Birds to ^Jan. 111 



innumerable biitrachians, small crustaceans, and pestiferous 

 insects, all of which directly or indirectly injuriously atf'eet 

 croj)S in the neighbourhood. The presence of the White 

 Heron in the rice-fields, for instance, is distinctly beneticial 

 to the farmer, and rice is one of the most extensively grown 

 crops of India and of China. 



Tiie slaughter of this bird in India is all the more repre- 

 liensible, not only because the bird is protected by law, but 

 because the Hindus arc strongly averse to the taking of 

 animal life, on religious as well as economic grounds. 



In no country in the world do insects impose a heavier 

 tax on the agriculturist than in India, and it is infamous that 

 the British Government should connive at the illicit ex])ort 

 of the plumage of locally protected birds, not only because 

 the very species that are relentlessly and clandestinely slain 

 for their plumage are those that are most destructive to 

 insects and other field and orchard pests, but because they 

 are held sacred in the religious belief of a race that in 

 conscientiousness and purity of mind is in no wise inferior 

 to the Semitic. 



I say this because Jews are the principal culprits in the 

 matter of dealing in these contraband goods, and because 

 there comes drifting into my mind, down from my old 

 Sunday-school days, the recollection of being told that Jews 

 were merciful children of the Merciful ; that they were the 

 first in the world to preach about mercy to animals ; and 

 that in their Temple there were no other images exce})t those 

 of birds. 



Turning to Australia for a moment, before ilismissing the 

 question of the destruction of the Egret, I nuiy mention that 

 the slaughter of this and other wadino- birds for their 

 plumage is causing in that country a decline in its fish 

 resources. As these birds grow fewer in numbers, so do the 

 crustaceans that destroy the fish-spawn inci'ease in hosts. 



Value of Birds to Livestock. 



The injury done to domestic animals by biting and 

 parasitic insects is very great. Herds of cattle are often 



