610 John Gochhum : 



Sparrows : these rapidly became a scourge, and caused wide- 

 spread devastation. 



For a long time a controversy was waged as to the attitude 

 of the Sparrow. Theorists defended him as a friend to 

 agriculture, maintaining that the tell-tale grains of wheat 

 in his crop amounted merely to a small commission for his 

 insectivorous services. The farmer knew him for a complete 

 harvester, and eventually the overwhelming verdict was 

 " Guilty " ; accordingly a price was set on his head and eggs. 

 In addition to his destructive propensities, the Sparrow is a 

 Chinaman among birds, and where he settles the others have 

 to leave. 



The present Bird Protection Acts in the various Australian 

 States, having similar objects in view, bear a family likeness 

 to one another. That of South Australia, where there is a 

 branch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 may be taken as a fairly advanced type. In it birds are 

 divided into three classes, as shown in the three following 

 schedules : — 



Tlie First Schedule comprising birds protected during the 

 whole year, viz. : 



Owls of all species ; Moreporks and Night Jars of all species; 

 Swifts of all species ; Swallows and Martins of all species ; 

 Laughing Jackasses and Kingfishers of all species ; Wood 

 Swallows of all species ; Diamond Birds (or Pardalotes) of 

 all species ; Piping Crow-shrikes (or Native Magpies) of all 

 sjDecies ; Butcher Birds and all species of small Crow-shrikes ; 

 Magpie Larks ; Blue Doves, Thickheads, Shrike-tits, and Bell 

 Birds ; Thrushes of all species ; Pantails and other Ply- 

 catchers ; Eobins of all species ; Superb Warblers, Emu 

 Wrens, Blue Wrens, and Wrens of all species ; Native 

 Tits of all species ; Tintacks and Ephthianuras of all 

 species ; Pipits and Larks of all species ; Eeed Warblers 

 and Bush Larks of all species ; Bower Birds ; Tree Creepers 

 of all species ; Cuckoos of all species ; Stone Plovers or Night 

 Curlews ; Ibises and Spoonbills of all species ; Herons, 

 Bitterns, Egrets of all species ; Sea Gulls of all species ; Terns 

 (or Sea Swallows) of all species ; Cape Barren Geese. 



