76 THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRD LIFE IN AUSTRALIA. 



Then came the introduction of foreign birds, which increased and multiplied owing to their 

 cosmopolitan habits and omnivorous appetites, and the}' disputed the reduced food supplies of our 

 indigenous birds. Some vears ago sparrow charts were compiled by the Department of Agriculture 

 showing all the localities where these birds were to be found. With the extension of our railways out 

 west, sparrows have extended their range to nearly every township in New South Wales, and are fre- 

 quently noticed about station homesteads a considerable distance beyond the railway terminus, where 

 they thrive and multiply far more rapidly than any of our native species. 



Though the common sparrow eats insects in the winter months when other food is scarce, it is 

 one of those cosmopolitan omnivorous birds, so domesticated in its habits, that it clings round the 

 towns and hamlets and destroys enormous quantities of grain, food stuff, fruit, and garden plants, 

 the damage being quite out of proportion to the value of its services as an insect destroyer. At the 

 same time it drives many of our more useful native insectivorous birds out of our parks and gardens. 



Then came the English starling, which at first stayed around the coastal towns until, increasing 

 in numbers, it spread from our parks and gardens into the open fields, and now ranges far and wide 

 into our western country. It has further been artificially spread by misguided persons who, under 

 the idea that it was a valuable destroyer of blow-flics and other insect pests, have introduced it on to 

 their stations. The common starling is another cosmopolitan omnivorous bird that eats seeds, berries, 

 fruits, and insects. It steals food from the fowlyards, hunts our waste lands, orchards, paddocks and 

 gardens, and destroys much fruit, and eats wheat and other grain. As its numbers increase out of 

 proportion to its food supplies in the days to come, it will be a very much more serious pest to the 

 orchardist and farmer. Its admirers claim that it is a verv efficient destroyer of blow-flies ; but, after 

 some years of careful observation, and the examination of many bird stomachs, I have failed to obtain 

 any proof that it either captures blow-flies or destroys any maggots. It hunts over the open paddocks, 

 and, with the seeds, eats up much of the insect food of our native birds more useful to the farmer, 

 and occupies their nesting places in the hollow trees. One has only to watch the immense clouds of 

 starlings in the New England district to understand what a difference their presence must make to the 

 indigenous birds. Another bad habit that the starling is credited with in England is the eating of 

 birds' eggs, and it sometimes even invades the dovecotes to devour the eggs. 



Before the advent of the white man in Australia, the blacks and the dingoes systematically hunted 

 over the whole of the great island continent and the aboriginal custom of burning off grass when thus 

 employed must have caused the death of countless numbers of young birds The blacks also collected 

 immense quantities of eggs for food, and thus were a very important check upon the undue increase 

 of bird life. The aboriginals are gone, but the wild dogs and mongrel dingoes remain, and doubtless 

 in some districts, account for the death of many ground birds. During the last decade, however, the 

 European fox has entered into competition with them, and is one of the most formidable enemies of 

 all birds nesting or sleeping, either upon or near the ground. This animal was originally imported 

 and liberated in Southern Victoria by some sporting squatters, and while it only infested the coastal 

 districts for a number of years, it has now penetrated far and wide into our western lands. At the 

 present rate of progress, probably only a few years will elapse before foxes will be found in every part 

 of Australia. 



The fox, agile and cunning, will eat anything, from beetles and earthworms to rabbits, and is 

 an expert at catching birds. The noble bustard, or wild turkev, once so numerous on the plains, is 

 one of its victims. This bird only lays one egg which is easily broken, the young nestling is easily 

 caught, and the old bustard, sleeping among the grass, is quickly pounced upon by the night-hunting 

 fox. An old resident of the Riverina recently told me that he often sees an odd bustard feeding round 

 the lignum swamps, but within a few days it vanishes, and a search in the neighbourhood reveals 

 patches of blood-stained feathers among the crabholes where Mr. Fox has dined upon wild turkey. 

 The plovers nesting on the open plains, the wild ducks and teal with their eggs in the long grass, the 

 native companion, with her long-legged nestlings among the crabholes and watercourses, and many 

 other birds with similar habits, all suffer from the depredations of the fox. If the fox was regarded by 

 the landowners as an enemy and vermin, as he really is, there might be some hope of keeping him in 

 check, but in rabbit-infested country many squatters, if they do not protect him, at least are not active 

 enemies, and tolerate him in return for his services in destroying the rabbits. 



