DESTRUCTION OF i5lRDS. 



WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR BOY^ 



" For nature is one with rapine, a harm no preacher can heal ; 

 The may-fly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow is speared by the shrike ; 

 And the whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder and prey." — Tennyson. 



These lines of Tennyson's tell us how cruel nature is, and how a constant warfare 

 to the death is going on during both day and night. Do we not see the swallow 

 skimming through the air just before dusk ? Have you not heard the sharp chck 

 of its bill as it swoops past and snaps up a gnat ? Why is the swallow so cruel ? 

 Why does it hunt these tiny creatures of the air and destroy them ? 



There is but one answer. The swallow kills for the same reason as the butcher 

 kills sheep and cattle. The swallow, like the butcher, kills for food. Kills for food, 

 mind, not for sport. For the same reason the butcher bird (shrike) spears the 

 sparrow by impaling it upon a stout thorn such as one sees upon hawthorn or box- 

 thorn. The laughing jackass kills small birds and animals by bumping them against 

 the limb of a tree. The eagle seizes its prey with its talons and kills its victim 

 by tearing out its eyes with its terrible beak. Yet in each case these birds of prey 

 kill smaller and weaker animals simply for food. 



Sometimes one bird kills another while fighting, or in its endeavour to protect 

 its nest from the strange intruder. Here, however, we find that the bird kills the 

 other in self-protection, or in order to protect its young. Just as Australian boys 

 would fight an enemy in order to save their homes and loved ones from harm, 

 so the birds fight one with another. Let us remember, then, that in nature animals 

 kill others for food and in self-protection. 



Sometimes it is very necessary for us to kill animals, not only for food, but for 

 self-protection. It is necessary for us to catch and kill cattle, sheep, poultry, and 

 fish for food. It is also very necessary for the gardener to destroy birds that eat 

 his young plants and spoil his vegetables for market. 



The fruitgrower must frighten or kill birds that enter his garden and spoil his 

 fruit. The farmer must shoot the crows, hawks, and eagles that work havoc amongst 

 the eggs, poultry, and lambs. Man kills snakes, sharks, and fierce wild animals 

 that are dangerous. He must kill animals that damage the crops in order to 

 protect his interests ; if he did not do so, they would eat him out of house and 

 home. But now come the questions of importance — (1) How shall we kill them ? 

 (2) When shall we kill them ? (3) Where shall we kill them ? Three very important 

 questions, indeed. Let us try to answer these questions fairly to both parties, the 

 gardener and the farmer on the one hand, and the animals on the other. 



As this book is concerned with birds only, our remarks will be confined in this 

 direction. The birds must live, and therefore they must have food. Like ourselves, 

 they prefer to live on the best that the garden can grow, therefore they attack the 



