The Locusts: their Function 



rarely, bramble-berries and the berries of 

 the Cornelian cherry. 



As you see, there is a little of all kinds of 

 small game, just as it comes. The insect- 

 eater does not turn his attention to berries 

 except in the last resort, at seasons of dearth. 

 Out of forty-eight cases mentioned in my 

 notes, vegetable food appears only three 

 times, in trifling proportions. The predomi- 

 nant item, both as regards frequency and 

 quantity, is the Locust, the smaller specimens 

 being chosen, in order not to tax the bird's 

 swallowing-powers. 



Even so with the other little birds of pass- 

 age which, when autumn comes, call a halt 

 in Provence and prepare for the great pil- 

 grimage by accumulating on their rumps a 

 travelling-allowance of fat. All of them 

 feast on the Locust, that rich fare; all, in 

 the waste lands and fallows, gather as best 

 they can the hopping tit-bit, that source of 

 vigour for flying. Locusts are the manna of 

 little birds on their autumnal journey. 



Nor does man himself scorn them. An 

 Arab author quoted by General Daumas l in 

 his book, Le Grand desert, tells us : 



1 General Eugene Daumas (1803-1871), the author of 

 several works on Algeria. Translator's Note. 

 361 



