VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN BUCKLAND. 441 



MAN AT WAR WITH NATURE'S IxAWS. 



Yet man has been engaged in the past half century in the blind 

 and wanton destruction of this essential part of nature's great plan. 

 He has taken no thought of the needs of the hour, nor concerned him- 

 self with the wants and claims of those to come. Within the space 

 of a few j^ears, under no constraint of necessity, he has carried out a 

 policy of destruction more effective than that accomplished in cen- 

 turies by the slow processes of nature. Armed with a weapon that 

 annihilates space, he has constituted himself the master and the 

 ruler of the animal world, and has delegated to himself the right to 

 adopt a utilitarian standard by which he measures the value of all 

 other forms of life. It is not for man to say what shall live and what 

 shall be destroyed. The whole system of nature is in exquisite poise, 

 and it is not possible to lay rough hands upon it without disturbing 

 it in directions and on a scale which at the time may not be guessed 

 at. If we remove or reduce the working power of one living organ- 

 ism which acts as a check on another, the latter, freed from restraint, 

 will inevitably multiply. As we destroy the insect-eating birds the 

 insects on which they prey will multiply to scourge us as Egyptian 

 plagues. It is a fact which agriculture has learned to its cost in many 

 parts of the world. 



SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF BIRD DESTRUCTION. 



Some years ago the agriculturists of Hungary, moved to the in- 

 sane step by ignorance and prejudice, succeeded in getting the spar- 

 row {Passer doTnesticus) doomed to destruction. Within five years 

 the country was overrun with insects, and these same men were cry- 

 ing frantically for the bird to be given back to them, lest they should 

 perish. The sparrow was brought back, and, driving out the hordes 

 of devastating insects, proved the salvation of the country. 



In the island of Bourbon once, because of the same ignorance and 

 prejudice, a price was set on each martin's head. The birds all but 

 disappeared, and grasshoppers took possession of the island. The 

 edict of banishment was hurriedly revoked and the exile recalled. 

 Fortunate, indeed, was it for the island of Bourbon that the bird 

 was not beyond recall. 



During the year 1861 the harvests of France gave an unusually 

 poor return, and a commission was appointed at the instance of the 

 minister of agriculture to investigate the cause of the deficiency. 

 By this commission the deficiency was attributed to the ravages of 

 insects which it was the function of certain birds to check. These 

 birds, it appeared, had been shot, snared, and trapped throughout 

 the country in such numbers that but little repressive influence had 

 been exerted upon the insects. It was concluded that by no other 



