THE DARK-GREEN GRASS CATERPILLAR. 107 



Mr. Lea speaks of pigs having been employed in the 

 work of keeping down this pest, and no doubt, if the pig 

 were a discriminating animal, it might do a lot of good 

 in this direction, but it is not to be trusted in its choice 

 of food. Where caterpillars especially are concerned, 

 the insect-destroying birds are valuable helps to the 

 farmer and grazier, and although the best of our birds 

 are day-feeders, and these would probably be of very 

 little use against the pest in question, it behoves every- 

 one of us to do at least something towards the protection 

 of these valuable birds. As showing what the Straw- 

 necked Ibis can, and will do, Mr. Le Souef may be 

 quoted when he says, "The parents feed the young 

 birds by placing partly digested food in their mouths, 

 such as grasshoppers, caterpillars, fresh- water snails, 

 etc., and, if the young birds are handled, they occasion- 

 ally ejected the food from their stomachs. The contents 

 of an adult bird, by actual counting, were 2,410 young 

 grasshoppers, 5 fresh- water snails, several caterpillars, 

 and some coarse gravel. This is to be multiplied by 

 200,000 (this being an estimate of the number of these 

 birds seen in one locality by Mr. Le Souef and Dr. C. 

 Ryan), thus bringing the grand total up to 482,000,000 

 odd grasshoppers, etc. The hand of every farmer, 

 grazier, and fruit-grower should be against the ' i pot- 

 shotter," the indiscriminate egg and nest robber, and 

 the small boy with the destructive but harmless-looking 

 pea rifle, should be wiped out of existence. 



Before closing this chapter, I should like to point out 

 the probable efficacy of daubing the grass in badly 

 affected spots with a thin paste composed of bran, 

 arsenic, and treacle, and the grasshopper fungus- suc- 

 cessfully used by us here might also be given a fair 

 trial. 



The following is a report on the subject by Inspector 

 E. Meeking, of this Department : 



