222 A COUNTRY READER. 



The poor beasts rush about trying every means 

 to escape the attention of their enemy, which 

 they seem to know is desirous of laying its egg 

 on their hide. 



If the fly is successful in laying its eggs on 

 the cattle, young cattle for choice, when the 

 maggot hatches out, it tunnels inside the skin, 

 and in course of time sets up inflammation. 



The maggot feeding and living inside the 

 cattle, causes a kind of tumour or " warble," 

 which appears in the following spring as large 

 as a pigeon's egg. 



The maggot then crawls out of the poor beast, 

 and lets itself fall to the ground, when it turns 

 into a black pupa or chrysalis. Some three weeks 

 later the fly appears, and then seeks out some 

 unfortunate animal on which to lay its eggs. 

 And so the round goes on again. 



If an animal has many warbles they very much 

 damage its health, and interfere considerably 

 with the flow of milk. 



Starlings do good service by settling on the 

 backs of the cattle, and with their beaks pecking 

 out the maggots. 



Starlings, rooks, and wagtails, also devour the 

 maggot that has dropped from the cattle for the 

 purpose of becoming a chrysalis. 



Of course these holes made by the maggot of the 

 warble fly in the skin lessen the value of the hide. 



