4150 The Zoologist — September, 1874. 



fireworks — with scenic effects more brilliant and wonderful than the 

 most skilful pyrotechnic display — may be enjoyed by any one who 

 may happen to possess a few matches. With a box of these useful 

 articles, which are far more effectual than the keenest American 

 axes, national property to the value of many thousands of pounds 

 sterling is annually disposed of. It may be a matter for surprise 

 to foreigners that an amusement so costly to the many should be 

 permitted for the gratification or enrichment of a few, entailing in 

 its results, more or less immediate, the scarcity and enhanced value 

 of timber and fuel, the necessity of irrigation, the erection of works 

 for the conservation of rivers, the absolute loss of rich alluvial 

 land, washed away by floods or swallowed up by hungry sands 

 and single beds. The destructive results of timber burning and 

 disforesting could be swelled into a very long list of evils that 

 follow in its train, some of which are confessedly irremediable ; it 

 is sufficient for our purpose to point out one of the most serious 

 obstacles to bird-preservation — one of the most active causes 

 which has led to the increasing rarity of many species. These 

 great fires, be it understood, usually take place at the very height 

 and summer of the breeding season. To the naturalist, the mere 

 mention of this fact is enough to show him that birds could not be 

 taken at so great a disadvantage at any other time. Then there 

 yet remains to be sipped, by the Meliphagidae, nectarine juices, 

 viscid, transparent; insects, developed in their perfect form or less 

 active larval state, are busy on their feeding ground, about which 

 restless Certhiidae creep swiftly, using their searching probe-like 

 tongues. The wealth of spring flowers has passed away, with all 

 their varied beauty and fragrance ; the burdened sprays, lately 

 hung round with panicles or corymbs well stored with hidden 

 honey, are now weighted with green drupes or berries, which, 

 swelling with the warm breath of summer, give fair promise of rich 

 harvests in the winter months, when, pinched by hunger, the 

 wandering flocks follow the ripened fruits. This is the time when 

 bush-fires are recklessly started on their wasteful errand. Driven 

 by the force of furious nor'-westers, huge volumes of suffocating 

 smoke invest the bending branches, crisp the parched leaves, and 

 so prepare the forest for the roaring sea of flame that follows; 

 nests, eggs, young birds perish in the general havoc ; brooding 

 birds, weakened by incubation, and parent birds that hover round 

 their helpless young must fall in numbers; those that escape — 



