PRESERVATION OF INSECT-DESTROYING BIRDS. 25 



To secure active co-operation in the direction of the 

 preservation of insectivorous birds, we must be able by 

 the aid of the stuffed specimens themselves to show those 

 interested the difference between the noxious and the 

 beneficial ; to point out to those persons who are engaged 

 in our great rural industries that their interest lies in 

 uniting, as in the case of insect-pests, to maintain the 

 balance which nature has given us, and more especially to 

 endeavour to impress upon the young people the necessity 

 for preserving certain birds from destruction. 



Those unaccustomed to dissecting birds can have but a 

 faint idea of the enormous quantity of insects many even 

 of the smaller birds devour, and a better acquaintance 

 with both birds and insects would. I am sure, tend to 

 prevent such wholesale slaughter. The chief enemies 

 of birds are the itinerant sportsmen, who on holidays 

 scour the country in all directions, until very little is left 

 of the bird-life of former days. In the case of such 

 birds as Parrots, Leatherheads, Sparrows, &c., which are 

 destructive to either fruit or grain, those interested will 

 of course know best how to deal with them. 



But a very large number of our native birds feed solely 

 on insects, and every such bird is always on the watch to 

 protect the farmer's crops. Let this fact be once realized 

 by the rural population and there will be a chance of saving 

 the birds. If once the birds become extinct here, it will 

 be almost, perhaps quite, impossible to replace them. 



The excellent charts in the schools ought to be the 

 means of enabling persons to distinguish many kinds 

 of birds which should be protected and preserved as 

 being of essential service to all cultivators, and these 

 excellent bird illustrations, could, with great advantage 

 be added to. 



The importation of the insect-destroying birds of other 

 countries would also be advantageous, but in so doing 

 great care must be used to make sure of the particular 

 kinds we propose to introduce, so as to enable us to guard 

 against a repetition of former and often most disastrous 

 mistakes. 



