158 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



whistle. It flocks around man's habitations, swarms 

 in his parks and remains all winter. In the breed- 

 ing season it routs the woodpeckers, bluebirds, 

 purple martins and other good and desirable birds 

 out of the nest-boxes that have been erected espe- 

 cially for them, and takes possession. A flock of 

 starlings can easily dispossess and drive away 

 golden- winged peckers, and have been seen to do so. 

 Fortunately, the starling is not a street-gutter 

 scavenger, like the English sparrow; but if it con- 

 tinues to drive away our woodpeckers and other 

 native birds, as it now seems to be doing, its exter- 

 mination will be very much in order. 



There is one foreign wild-animal pest that is con- 

 tinually knocking at our doors, and whenever it 

 obtains a foothold, its presence will spell calamity. 

 It is the Mongoose; a small carnivorous mammal 

 about as large as a large mink, which finds it home 

 in India, Ceylon, Burma and other countries of the 

 Orient. Although an animal of small size, its rest- 

 less energy, fierce temper, indomitable courage and 

 physical activity enable it to vanquish birds and 

 some mammals of ten times its own size. 



In its home country, India, the mongoose now 

 known in the nursery as "Rikki-tikki-tavi" is a 

 fairly decent citizen, and it fits into the time-worn 

 economy of that region without a jar. Its specialty 

 is killing cobras and devouring them. In an evil 

 moment, the mongoose was introduced in the 

 islands of Barbadoes and Jamaica, to clear out the 



