MASON AND LEFROY. 363 



eaten as Ortolans should be protected, if protection is possible ; 

 their value as food is totally insignificant as compared with their 

 value to agriculture. Crows are not destroyed probably to any great 

 extent. The King-Crow could probably be very greatly helped 

 in paddy lands by the provision of perches, and this probably applies 

 to other crops not tall enough to act as perches for them. The 

 Mynahs could probably be very much encouraged by planting trees 

 of the Ficus genus, such as the Pipal, Baryar, Gular, Pakour, 

 &c., as roadside trees, which supply food and shelter, and which 

 help to maintain such a number of birds that when an out- 

 break of a pest occurs the birds are there to eat the 

 insects. 



For the Hoopoe, Spotted Owlet, and the Kites, no protection 

 is probably needed or practicable. The Black Partridge is shot, but 

 the number shot in so large an area as India must be a very insigni- 

 ficant one. The Cattle Egret is the only bird other than the Indian 

 Roller coming among those of first class importance to agriculture, 

 among those here dealt with, which requires protection. The Eg- 

 refcs are said to be destroyed in very large quantities during the breed- 

 ing season on account of the train of pectoral feathers valued as 

 decorations. It is not certain how far other Egrets are valuable ; 

 this one has an undoubted agricultural importance and deserves 

 protection. It and the Indian Roller are the only two birds amorg 

 those exported (see p. 23 above) which are distinctly known to be 

 beneficial. On the other hand, the Black Ibis, the Pond Heron and 

 other frog-eating birds are probably injurious from our point of view, 

 while the Egrets proper (Herodias spp.) are of very doubtful im- 

 portance in agriculture. The Rose-ringed Parroquet and probably 

 all parroquets are extremely destructive, and it is undoubtedly 

 for the good of India that they are killed, though the export of their 

 skins is forbidden and they are shipped as " Cowhair " to Singa- 

 pore for re-shipment to England. To anyone who has lived in the 

 plains and seen the havoc wrought on fruit, on maize and other crops, 

 even on the leaves of trees, such as teak, by parroquets, it will be 

 incomprehensible that the export of their plumage is forbidden. No 



