VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN BUCKLAND. 453 



white heron in the rice fields, for instance, is distinctly beneficial to 

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

 India and of China. 



In Australia the slaughter of this and other wading birds for their 

 plumage is causing in that country a decline in its fish resources. It 

 is the destruction of these birds which has led to the ever-increasing 

 multitudes of crustaceans which destroy the fish spawn and the young 

 fish hatching out in the Coorong and in the lakes at the Murray 

 Mouth. 



In his report on Egypt for the year 1912 Lord Kitchener stated 

 that the indiscriminate destruction of bird life had allowed an 

 enormous increase of insect pests, steps for the combating of which 

 were to be taken. Lord Kitchener knew that in spite of the im- 

 proved methods of fighting insects there was only one step that he 

 could take that would be effective. A Khedivial decree was issued 

 forbidding the catching or killing of, or taking the eggs of, Egypt's 

 insectivorous birds. In issuing this decree, two things were promi- 

 nent in Lord Kitchener's thoughts — the destruction of the egret for 

 its plumes, and the fact that in the valley of the Nile this bird is one 

 of nature's checks on the cotton worm. 



White herons consume many flies, as well as the larvse of insects in 

 water. This fact is well known to those who have watched the habits 

 of oxen and buffalo in Asia or Egypt. There the smaller white 

 herons — the paddy birds of India — live with the oxen or the buffa- 

 loes, and pick the flies or the ticks from their bodies. 



The late George Grenfell noted once on the Congo how a dying 

 white heron, which he had shot and put into his canoe, roused itself, 

 even on the approach of death, to snap at the tsetse flies which were 

 settling on his boatman's legs. 



VALUE OF BIRDS TO LIVE STOCK. 



The injury done to domestic animals by biting and parasitic in- 

 sects is very great. Herds of cattle are often stampeded by these 

 tormenting creatures, which carry disease and death among them. 

 Another great affliction is the warble, which is a small tumor pro- 

 duced by the larva of the gadfly on the backs of cattle, and the con- 

 stant irritation of which causes considerable depreciation in the 

 value of hides, besides a lessened quantity and poorer quality of beef. 



Horses, sheep, and other farm animals are subject to the attacks of 

 similar parasites and other persecuting insect foes. 



If it were not for the services the bird renders in alighting on ani- 

 mals in search of these parasites, or in catching the flies on the wing, 

 or in eating them in the embryo state, man would be unable to keep 

 his live stock- 



More than this, man himself would be unable to inhabit many 

 places on the earth which he now cultivates, or where he carries on 

 other lucrative industries. 



