Tlve protection of bird life.



245



to do so, they escaped to the mountains, and increased much in

number — anyone ean have a shot at them, and a head of one, if he

be successful, for a sovereign.



THE PROTECTION OF BIRD LIFE.


By Sir Joseph Carruthers.


[Concluded from p. 234.)


In the zone of the Panama Canal there are so many venomous

insects that the President of the United States (Mr. Wilson), has

issued an order under expert advice prohibiting the destruction of

any wild bird there.


Lord Kitchener, when administering the affairs of Egypt,

issued a Khedival decree forbidding the catching or killing or taking

•of the eggs of any insectivorous birds. The Egret, may it be

mentioned, is a heavy feeder on the cotton worm ; yet it was being

•destroyed in Egypt for its plumes.


In India it was found that dams for irrigation works were

being destroyed by crustaceans boring into the earthworks. There,

too, it was found that the Egret was of enormous value in keeping

these crustaceans in check.


The Egrets in Riverina may yet be wanted for the benefit

of the irrigationist and the farmer rather than for the feather dealer.

The Ibis and other Long-bills or Spoon-bills are voracious feeders

on the grasshopper. On Monaro grasshoppers are a chi'onic curse

with summer, and the Ibis are now comparatively rare for some

reason. I always regard a flock of Ibis on my place as worth a

fair sum of money to me. The misfortune is that the man with the

gun or with the pea-rifle will not only trespass, but will drive away

these birds, after potting one or two for sport (so-called).


I could go on giving instance after instance, and fact upon

fact, to show that the wild or native birds of every country are

there to benefit the farmers, the fruit-growers, and the stock-breeders

but unfortunately, they are destroyed because at times hunger

compels them to steal a chicken or some fruit or because the man

or boy with a gun wants to destroy life.


Mr. Froggatt, our able naturalist, has given many valuable



