468 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



Naich, 1914 



supply, insects chanore their primi- 

 tive habits to swarm and multiply 

 exceedinjily upon the fertile fields 

 and {jreen pastures of man's crea- 

 tion. In addition to this, as the 

 pioneer introduces i)lants and seeds 

 from the land he has left, he im- 

 wittinoflv introduces \yith them in- 

 sects, too, to swell the hordes of 

 native depredators. WTien we re- 

 flect on the number of insect pests 

 to which man's farminjj operations 

 must always <jive rise, we must 

 admit that he can ill allord to lose 

 the services of the bird in the war 

 which he must wag^e (Continually 

 an^ainst orjranic Nature in order to 

 maintain his artificial standards 

 against her inexorable laws. 



— ■Recoj^ition of an Kconomic 

 Fact. — 



Tn iqog, replvine to the London 

 Chamber of Commerce (which 

 soii<rht on behalf of its Plumao-e 

 Section to obtain a repeal of the 

 law which prohibits the export of 

 pluma<re from British India), the 

 Bombay Chamber of Commerce 

 pointed out that the prohibition 

 was meant not only to prevent 

 beautiful birds being- exterminated, 

 but also to prevent nseful birds 

 bein? reduced in numbers. It was 

 explained that it was a recotjnised 

 fact that crops of all kinds were 

 subiected to incalculable daman^e 

 by insect pests, and that the com- 

 batinsr of this evil had become one 

 of the crreatest difficulties of th(^ 

 Indian at^riculturist. The princir)al 

 enemies of these pests, it was fur- 

 ther noted, were the in.sectivorous 

 birds, yet these were the very 

 snecies that hitherto had been re- 

 Ipntlessly slaughtered fgr their 

 nluman^e. In tqtt the Melbourne 

 Chamber of Commerce, in rn'^lyiT' 

 to a letter from the T/ondoti Cham'- 

 ber of Commerce, pointed out th^i + 

 the work performed bv the wald 

 birds in the Commonwealth alone, 

 in keeniufT in check the ravafres of 

 myriads of noxious insects, was 

 worth many millions of pounds 

 sterlinir. The natural enemies of 

 insect pests, the Melbourne Cham- 

 ber went on to say, were the 

 birds, au'd were thev destroyed. 

 Nature's •eciuilibrium would be un- 

 set, and successful atrricult'ife 

 would become impossible. Birds, 

 it was added, were vpstlv more 

 really valuable to the commu- 

 nity when.al''ye than when dead, 

 and convorto'd into tnininpr'" r>rnn- 

 m-ents. Tn last A^rvar's Peiort '~«n 

 - T.ord TCitrhenT statp.d th^t 

 fVie. indiscriminate destriiction r,f 

 '^>ird life had allowed an eT^rmous 

 inrreaso of in^nrt nests, for the 

 fombatinc of which stens were to 

 be taken. T,ord Kitchener knew 



that in spite of the improved me- 

 thods of fipfhtincf insects there was 

 only one step that he could take 

 that wouM be effective. A Khcdival 

 Decree was issued forbiddin<![ the 

 catching-, killinnr, or taking the 

 esres of Esrs'Pt^s insectivorous birds. 

 In issuing^ this Decree, two things 

 were prominent in Lord Kitchen- 

 er's thoupht.s — the destruction of 

 the eeret for its plume, and the 

 fact that in the Valley of the Nile 

 this bird is one of Nature's checks 

 on the cotton worm. If it were 

 not for the services of the bird, 

 there are many parts of our Km'- 

 nire in which could not keep his 

 live stock, from which he himself 

 would be driven in headlonsr fli-bt. 

 No part of our insect-ridden Km- 

 Tiire — not even India — has been so 

 exploited for plumasre as our 

 Crown colonies in the West Indies. 

 The destruction of bird life in 

 •Tamaica has led to such an in- 

 crea.se of the trrass-tick that the 

 keepin? of most breeds of cattle 

 has become impossible. 



Because of the num.ber of venom- 

 ous insects in the neighbourhood af 

 the Panama Canal, one of the first 

 acts of l\Ir. Wilson, when he be- 

 came ^'resident, was to issue an 

 Executixe Order prohibitinsr, under 

 heavy ]ienalties for infraction, the 

 destruction of any wild bird in 

 the Canal zone. 



For ever-y fly-catchine and para- 

 site-eatin<r bird that is killed, 

 Nature's fig'ht for the care of her 

 children is weakened bv the loss of 

 a very active ag-ent. Yet the num- 

 ber of eg^rets and white herons, 

 <t1ossv starlincfs, cuckoos, orioles, 

 shrikes, kingfishers, rollers, bee- 

 eaters, barbets, trocrons, and other 

 fly-catchingf and parasite-eatincr 

 birds that are killed anmially for 

 their plumage in our possessions in 

 Africa must be materially reducing 

 their working^ power. To gautre 

 the extent of the destruction, take 

 one case only, that of the king- 

 fisher. I should mention that in 

 warm countries these birds belie 

 their name, and feed for the most 



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Fig. 201 



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