VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN — BUCKLAND. 443 



crickets appeared, devouring every blade of wheat, and the follow- 

 ers of Joseph Smith were on the verge of starvation. At this junc- 

 ture Franklin's gull came by hundreds of thousands, and, feeding 

 greedily on the crickets, freed the fields of the pest. The settlers 

 at Salt Lake regarded the advent of the gulls as a heaven-sent 

 miracle, and practically canonized the birds. 



Since that hour this black-headed gull has remained a faithful 

 servitor of the farmers of Utah. At the present moment a move- 

 ment is on foot to erect a monument to this bird in Salt Lake City, 

 thus showing a befitting and seemly sense of gratitude for its in- 

 estimable services in guarding the State from the ravages of insects. 



It is a common practice with all settlers in a new country to at 

 once set about killing the native birds in a thoughtless and foolhardy 

 manner. This stupid practice is all the more deplorable, because 

 an enormous increase of insect pests invariably attends the operations 

 of the pioneer agriculturist. Finding in cultivated crops new and 

 more succulent sources of food supply, insects change their primitive 

 habits, to swami and multiply exceedingly upon the fertile fields of 

 man's creation. 



When the farmers in New Zealand began to break the virgin soil 

 on an extensive scale, a certain caterpillar, which hitherto had 

 gleaned a somewhat meager sustenance from the scanty native 

 verdure of the open lands, disappeared from its old haunts and at- 

 tacked the cultivated areas. So speedily did it increase by reason 

 of a more favorable environment that it soon became a blasting 

 plague. It came not singly, nor even in battalions, but in mighty 

 armies which laid waste the land. I have seen these atoms cover the 

 pastures in such numbers as to make the green one brown. I have 

 seen countless millions of them pass out of one cornfield, having 

 stripped every stalk bare, cross the road in solid phalanx, and pass 

 into another. I have seen big mobs of sheep mustered in hot haste 

 and driven to and fro over these serried ranks that they might crush 

 them with their scurrying feet. I have seen every horse roller in 

 a district brought up hurriedly, like steam engines to a fire, and 

 drawn backward and forward over the crawling masses until the 

 cylinders stuck fast in a mire of squashed insects. I have seen 

 huge ditches dug in an attempt to stop the invaders' progress. The 

 effort was as futile as that of a child who builds a bank of sand by the 

 sea, thinking it will stem the oncoming tide. Even railway trains 

 were brought to a standstill, the wheels of the engines being unable 

 to grip the rails owing to the hordes of caterpillars which were 

 crossing the line. 



In time it became abundantly clear that if this disastrous condition 

 of affairs continued it would be useless to attempt to carry on agri- 

 culture in New Zealand. Realizing that any attempt which they 



