PART I. 



Economic Entomology is a subject that has only recently been 

 dealt with in India and that inadequately. In England even, 

 it is not so advanced as one would expect, due to the fact that there 

 is no definite organisation for the study of the subject. Many 

 countries notably the United States of America, Germany, France, 

 Austria, have accumulated a large amount of information on this 

 subject. 



In India we have had and still have many first class observers 

 of Birds. Ornithology is a subject which naturally appeals to 

 most men whose work or leisure takes them into various districts 

 and especially the wilder and little known ones. The observations 

 of these men have naturally tended in a few directions, namely, 

 a definite knowledge of what species of birds occur within Indian 

 limits, a knowledge which is all-important from an economic side 

 of the question, definite localities in which me various species occur, 

 their life history and general habits. Very little is on record with 

 regard to the actual food of birds, and no definite work has been 

 done in this direction. It is now a generally recognised fact that 

 birds play a very important part in checking ravages of insects 

 on the farm and elsewhere. But owing to ignorance, lack of observ- 

 ation and often to faulty observation a very small percentage of 

 the good done by birds in checking undue proportion of insect life 

 is attributed to them, and for similar reasons some birds at present 

 considered beneficial are injurious and vice versa, or else fall under 

 a neutral heading, whilst others again are both beneficial and 

 injurious depending on locality and food supply. 



Improvements in agriculture such as are now going on, natur- 

 ally tend (and will continue to do so) to the introduction of new 

 varieties of crops into districts suitable for them, and in which as 



