Proceedings, l!)ir.. 39 



success of crops, it is evident that man must invariably clei)eucl iipou tiis own efforts, 

 lie must know about natural enemies, give them all due credit and protect them, 

 but we must beware of exaggerating their services. People are only too easily misled 

 in this direction, but the tiual result of too great faith in natural enemies is dis- 

 appointment. Let the student of natural economics see, therefore, that blame for 

 such disappointment cannot be justly laid upon him." 



These remarks are particularly applicable to fruit-growing, where hundreds of 

 acres are planted in a confined area, furnishing an inexhaustible food-supply for 

 scores of insect pests, which can only be controlled by artiflcial means and not by 

 natural enemies, because the balance of nature has been upset. To think that any 

 number of birds could control an attack of aphides, for Instance, where ideal con- 

 ditions for the feeding and propagation of these insects has been created, is out of 

 the question. One has only to think of Huxley's well-known calculation, that one 

 single aphis would produce in ten generations " more ponerable substance than five 

 hundred million of stout men ; that is, more than the whole population of China." 

 It is obvious that if the birds left one or two individuals in the orchard, and nature 

 had not provided the means for destroying them, either natural or artificial, there 

 would not be much orchard left. 



It is without thinking of these matters, certainly through want of knowledge, 

 that there are more periodical agitations hero and in many other parts of the world 

 for the introduction of exotic birds as aids to the farmer. The question of the 

 Government introducing birds into this Province is brought up at Farmers' Iustitut(> 

 meetings and other meetings every year. As you are probably aware, the Govern- 

 ment sanctioned the introduction this year of several hundred songbirds from England 

 by the Natural History Society of Victoria. I protested as strongly as I could to 

 the Government against such importation, but without avail, and the birds have 

 since been liberated. The birds introduced were the European skylark, goldfinch, 

 linnet, robin, and blue-tit. 



I will now briefly put before you some facts in connection with the economic 

 standing of these birds in other countries. In the U.S.A. Xear-book of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1S98 there is an instructive article by Mr. T. S. Palmer, of 

 the Biological Survey, on "The Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Bird.s," 

 in which the author says : " Species usually regarded as beneficial in their native 

 home, such as the European skylark, green linnet, etc., are likely to prove injurious 

 in new countries. The skylarlc confines its injuries mainly to turnips, eating the seed 

 soon after it is planted. The green linnet is similarly injurious to grain. In New 

 Zealand linnets have spread to other islands five and six hundred miles away." 

 The following is an extract from a leading article in the Morning Post on the 

 subject of the " Plague of Birds " : " The green linnet is a serious nuisance to the 

 hop-grower, settling on the hops just as they get ripe and tearing them to pieces in 

 order to extract seed, until the whole ground is green with the fallen petals. The 

 common or green linnet is usually regarded as a quite harmless eater of weed-seeds, 

 but in the eastern counties he often takes heavy toll from the grower of turnip 

 and radish seed, settling in great flocks upon the fields as the crops ripen and while 

 they are being harvested. One Norfolk grower this autumn stated that the linnets 

 had taken at least one-third of one of the crops of swede-seed which the weather had 

 forced him to leave out rather longer than usual." In the guide to the birds in the 

 British Museum (Natural History), written by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, now head 

 of the Bird Department and one of the leading ornithologists of the day, the follow- 

 ing occurs under the description of " Blue Titmouse " (Parus cccruleus) : " Insects 

 and their larvre form the principal food, and though this diet is supplemented in 

 autumn by fruit, the small damage done in gardens is compensated for by the whole- 

 sale destruction of insect i)ests." Professor Collinge, in the above-mentioned work, 

 quotes the following charge brought against the blue-tit by one of his correspondents : 

 "Ten years ago I should have said that a blue-tit was deserving of all protection, 

 for its food consisted almost entirely of insects. Recently, however. I have had 



