THE HOUSE FLY 43 



and wanton act. If we were alive to our interests we 

 would not only have our friend the chameleon protected 

 by law, but we would offer rewards for the destruction 

 of its deadly foes, the tree-dwelling snakes, which in South 

 Africa are represented by the Boomslang (Dispholidus 

 typus] and the Mamba (Dendraspis angusticeps) . These 

 snakes not only hunt down and devour hosts of chameleons, 

 but they also prey upon our insect-eating allies, the birds. 



The great majority of our native birds are valuable allies 

 in the war against House Flies, Fruit Flies, and Blood- 

 sucking Flies. 



The birds known as Fly-catchers, Sunbirds (Honey- 

 suckers), Swallows, Martins, Bee-eaters, Drongos, Night- 

 jars, and many others capture flies upon the wing ; while 

 hosts of others birds feed upon the maggots and chrysalides 

 of flies. The dainty little bird known as the Willy Wag- 

 tail, which struts about our streets and yards so confidently, 

 is another valuable little friend to us, yet we stand idly 

 by while our children shoot it down with air guns, shy 

 stones at it, and rob its nest. 



The partridge, pheasant, quail, guinea-fowl, and domestic 

 fowl tear asunder the droppings of animals and heaps of 

 decaying vegetable matter, and feed greedily upon the 

 fly maggots and chrysalides which such decaying sub- 

 stances invariably contain in abundance. 



A small mass of cowdung, a decaying cabbage, a little 

 heap of rotten fruit, or some other form of garbage, will 

 suffice to provide food for many thousands of fly maggots. 

 If poultry are allowed their liberty, they know by instinct 

 just where to search for these fly maggots and chrysalides. 



The teaching of Economic Natural History in schools 



