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Hawkesbury College these birds breed freely, and no difficulty 

 has been experienced in rearing the young. Sir Samuel Wilson 

 undertook the charge of the Ostriches procured by the Victorian 

 Acclimatisation Society, and he found that the birds bred freely, 

 but that if turned out of the paddock and allowed to go free 

 over the run they became so wild that it was practically 

 impossible to yard them at the proper season for stripping. 

 Hence it is necessary to keep the birds in limited enclosures and 

 accustomed to their keepers. Ostriches actually in the open 

 would have even less chance than the Emu of escaping the 

 universal gun. 



The advantage of the general policy of introducing foreign 

 birds into Australia seems to be open to much doubt. The classes 

 of birds which would presumably be welcomed are insectivorous 

 birds, birds of attractive plumage or song, and game birds. Of 

 purely insectivorous birds, the Skylark is the only success 

 amongst those which have been tried, and that as we have seen 

 only so far in very limited areas. Such birds are difficult to 

 transport and transplant. We have large numbers of indigenous 

 birds which perform the same good offices, and the wisest policy 

 seems to be to give adequate State or Federal protection to these, 

 and to foster amongst all classes, and especially amongst the 

 agricultural class, who are most directly interested, knowledge 

 of the invaluable work performed by the birds and an ardent 

 desire to preserve them. Birds of beautiful and striking 

 plumage or pleasing song, if grain or fruit feeders, are only 

 likely to be shot down in the same ruthless fashion as are the 

 Parrots and Satin Birds. About the gardens of the towns, where 

 sentiment is stronger and interests are less seriously affected, 

 such birds as the Blackbird, Thrush and Goldfinch may be able 

 to hold their own. In the country, where the natural cover is 

 destroyed over large holdings and the timber rung, and where 

 more intense cultivation is very limited, it is plain that the 

 chances of the birds for survival are small, especially as in 

 fruiting time they naturally collect from all around to raid the 

 orchards, and so raise the country side against them. The grain 

 feeders in the same way attack the newly-sown seed, and their 

 presence is similarly resented. These inconveniences, super- 

 added to the natural difficulties of adaptation to new climate. 



