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Sparrow Destruction in Australia. 



Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, consulting entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England, has forwarded a donation of £5 to be applied to the destruction of sparrows 

 in South Australia. A subcommittee of the Royal Agricultural Society of South Au- 

 stralia has undertaken to raise subscriptions in aid of this worthy object, and it is pro- 

 posed to have monthly competitions in the production of sparrows' heads and sparrows' 

 eggs. These competitions will take place after the next autumn show in Adelaide. At 

 the autumn show there will be a grand prize competition, when prizes of £2, £1 10s., 10s. 

 and 5s. will be offered for the largest number of sparrows' heads, and the same value in prize- 

 money will also be offered for the largest number of sparrows' eggs. Additional to this, 

 every competitor who fails to secure a prize, and yet brings in 100 or more heads or eggs, 

 will receive a bonus of 2s. 6<f., and any one producing under 100 and not less than 50 

 heads or eggs will receive a bonus of Is. These prizes and bonuses ought to encourage 

 the boys to exert themselves. 



An American paper tells us that : "There is a scarcity of our native song birds ; 

 the sparrow drives them away and destroys their eggs and young. Dr. Merriam estimates 

 that a pair of sparrows in ten years will increase to 275,716,983,698. They migrate over 

 the country in grain cars, in which they have been caged while stealing breakfast. They 

 can be destroyed by throwing down a handful of wheat and shooting among them with 

 fine shot. The owl and hawk are very helpful and should invariably be spared." 



In Victoria the fruit-growers are becoming alarmed at the depredations of the 

 sparrows, which are exceedingly numerous. A Bill was lately placed before the legis- 

 lature there, to provide means for relieving cultivators from this pest, but, as in South 

 Australia, it was opposed by those who were not subject to losses, who were too indolent 

 to examine into the truth of the complaints made, or who were too selfish to interfere in 

 a matter in which they were not directly and personally concerned. A few of the op- 

 ponents were led away by statements that the Sparrow does little harm in its native home 

 in England, but it is a fact that it does a great deal of damage, though it is there kept 

 from increasing so rapidly as in Australia — first, by the colder weather, which limits 

 the breeding season to a month or two, whereas in Australia the season lasts nearly all 

 the year through ; and secondly, in England there are many owls, hawks and other ene- 

 mies which prey upon the Sparrows, whilst in Australia these enemies are almost entirely 

 absent. Perhaps, when it is too late, the opponents to the Sparrow bill will find that 

 their pockets and personal comforts are very intimately affected by the presence of 

 hordes of these little pests, which drive away all the insectivorous birds, but will not 

 touch an insect (except from pugnaciousness), but which will eat all the seeds of all the 

 plants that grow in the fields, spoil all the fruit that is produced in the orchard and vine- 

 yards, and even attack the vegetables and flowers in the gardens when there is nothing 

 else to destroy. — Garden and Held [Adelaide, South Australia], January, 1889. 



HOW TO GET RID OF AnTS. 



Professor Fernald, in an interesting paper on Household Pests in the Bulletin for 

 July, 1889, of the Massachusetts Hatch Experiment Station, gives the following remedy 

 for ants when they are troublesome in the house from their attacks upon sugar and other 

 sweets : " It has been recommended to sprinkle sugar into a sponge and place it in their 

 path, and as it fills up with ants several times a day immerse it in hot water to kill those 

 adhering to it. This will undoubtedly prove successful if carefully followed up for some 

 time ; but when we remember that the females are constantly laying eggs to produce 

 workers which will take the places of those already destroyed the task seems almost 

 hopeless. 



"There can be no doubt that a better method would be to follow the ants carefully 

 and discover, if possible, w^here their nest is and then destroy the entire community by 



