78 THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRD LIFE IN AUSTRALIA. 



It is claimed that magpies have been almost exterminated by the rabbit poisoning, yet in the 

 New England country these birds have increased enormously. Last year I counted over a hundred 

 magpies congregated on a small freshly ploughed paddock near Uralla, and driving along the roads 

 one could almost always count a dozen or more scattered over the open grass lands. Even the dainty 

 magpie lark holds its own, and is common in the suburbs of Sydney, in spite of the domestic cat. 

 and the small boy with the pea rifle. The willie wagtail, blue wren, spine bill honeyeater and the 

 silver eyes are common in our gardens, and with a little encouragement become wonderfully tame. 



As regards migratory birds, it is very difficult to say if they are decreasing or not, as the}' usually 

 follow their food supplies ; but great flocks 'of wood swallows always appear with the cutworms and 

 young locusts. The bee birds and the grauculus come south every year, and the honey eaters follow 

 the blossoming of the eucalypts. Even the bustard or wild turkey is not so scarce as commonly 

 imagined. A stock inspector, stationed at Moree, told me that in one morning early last summer he 

 counted 76 wild turkeys feeding upon the plains, within four miles of the town. In some areas, owing 

 to their wanton destruction by so-called sportsmen and week-end trippers, birds are getting scarce. 

 In agricultural districts, however, where food supplies have increased, through cultivation and the 

 irrigation of the land, or storage of water, bird life is increasing, and, with reasonable protection, will 

 hold its own. It is a great pity that the members of our many Progress Associations at holiday 

 resorts on the Blue Mountains and other places, do not take particular care to protect their local birds 

 and so give an added charm to their beauty spots. 



In New Zealand, where a great deal of the land has been completely denuded of the indigenous 

 forest to make room for grass and crops, the farmers have been urged to replant clumps of trees to attract 

 the birds back to their old hunting grounds. Some writers have suggested in our newspapers that 

 this method, if adopted in Australia, would counteract the disposal of our birds. This proposal is 

 made because the writers know very little about the actual conditions prevailing over the greater part 

 of Australia. In spite of the extensive clearing and ringbarking on the coastal districts, and the 

 absence of trees on the great plains of the south west, a large area of our land is either open forest or 

 park-like flats, covered with a wonderful variety of shrubs and scrub-trees, which afford shelter for all 

 kinds of birds. Water is, of course, essential to the birds, and wherever it is present, they will be found. 

 The bushman and explorer always watch the flight of the birds in the dry lands, which usually leads 

 them to water. Even in our suburban gardens, if a dish of water is regularly left under the garden 

 taps, it is wonderful how soon all the birds in the neighbourhood find it and come regularly to drink 

 and wash. In north-west Australia I used to travel up the " police track " between Derby and Hall's 

 Creek, where for some fifty miles through the dry sandy pindan scrub the only water obtainable was from 

 shallow wells, with a bucket, windlass and trough rigged up for travellers. Often these troughs were 

 dry, and hundreds of small birds, finches, doves, etc., were seen around the well, trying to get a drink. 

 When one hauled up a bucket full of water and poured it into the trough, the sight of the fearless thirsty 

 birds clustered over the water was enough to warm the heart of any man. 



In Central Australia there are regular cycles when for two or three years hardly enough rain falls 

 to moisten the surface of the earth ; and all animal life vanishes. The wonderfully adaptive desert 

 dwellers, frogs, lizards, snakes, and insects bury themselves deep down in the cool earth, while the birds 

 fly away and the marsupials migrate beyond the dry belt. Then comes the life-giving rain, inch upon 

 inch falls, the resting seeds in the soaked soil respond, and the land is covered with herbage, grass and 

 flowers. The dormant life of the underworld creeps up to the surface, the water in the ponds and 

 clay-pans teems as if by magic with small crustaceans and water insects. The shrubs burst forth into 

 new foliage and flowers, and birds come winging their way back to new food supplies. 



Sometimes when Australia suffers from a long-continued drought, thousands of birds and animals 

 perish from want of both food and water ; or, during a heat-wave, when for several days the tempera- 

 ture rises to 120° in the shade, accompanied by a hot wind, birds fall dead from its effects if they cannot 

 reach water, while many of the late nestlings are found dead in their nests. On such days birds, such 

 as crows, magpies, jays and magpie larks, may be seen along the track, clinging to the shade of the 



