274 The Great World's Farm 



having been killed off, chiefly to adorn women's bonnets. 

 It must be remembered, too, that while birds multiply 

 only by tens, insects increase by hundreds, by thousands, 

 and by tens of thousands, in a single season, so that 

 although the birds are now protected in Jamaica it will be 

 long before the loss is made good. Meantime they are 

 terribly avenged; for the island suffers from a disgusting 

 and grievous plague of ticks imported with cattle, which 

 swarm upon every leaf and blade of grass, except on the 

 higher hills. 



To make matters worse, too, the mongoose was im- 

 ported a few years ago, and like sundry other importations, 

 has proved a dismal failure. The idea was that it would 

 kill off the rats which so swarmed in the sugar-plantations 

 as to be a great nuisance to the planters. And the mon- 

 goose began well; but when its numbers had increased, as 

 they did enormously, it began to vary its diet of rats by 

 eating the eggs of such birds as build on the ground, and 

 then it v/ent on to eat the birds themselves, and even 

 poultry, besides killing off all the lizards and snakes, 

 which were not only quite harmless, but most useful as 

 insect-eaters. In one way and another, the ticks were 

 thus delivered from their natural enemies, and now have 

 things pretty much their own way, and seem likely to 

 have for some time to come. 



However, there are probably few people in the present 

 day who would seriously dispute the value of such birds 

 as live upon insects only. It is when we come to mixed 

 feeders, such as the sparrow and the crow, that opinions 

 are divided. 



A fierce battle rages round the sparrow. He is accused 

 of stealing corn and fruit, and of heartlessly destroying 



