12 
The Emu. 
for the other. A certain insect was found to lay 2,000 eggs, 
but a single Tomtit was found to eat 200,000 eggs in a year. 
A swallow devours 543 insects in a day, eggs and all." 
It is by destroying the equilibrium of nature that we become 
overrun with pests, there being not enough birds to keep the 
insects in check. Birds are the best " sure cures " for all kinds 
of noxious insects, but if the birds are destroyed because in 
their endeavours to save the farmers' crops they are observed to 
be foraging in his trees and fields, then the pests will get the 
upper hand, and there will be no checking them. No hard and 
fast line can be drawn between friends and foes of the feathered 
world. All the friends do a certain amount of harm, and all the 
foes a certain amount of good. No two persons would altogether 
agree as to which birds should be placed on either list. 
As an example, I shall just mention one bird which I consider 
ought to be counted among the beneficial species. It is the 
White-eye ( Zosterops ccerulescens ). These birds are fairly well 
distributed all over the island, and often may be found in large 
flocks round fruit-growing districts. They are considered by 
the majority of orchardists as unmitigated nuisances from their 
depredations among fruit, especially cherries and gooseberries. 
It cannot be denied these birds eat their share of fruit whenever 
they have the opportunity. I think I can affirm with a great 
deal of truth that there is hardly a bird that won't take fruit if 
it sees it growing within easy access, as it is on many fruit farms 
where the trees are planted almost right up to the edge of the clear- 
ing. During the autumn and winter months numbers of White- 
eyes come into the gardens in towns and eat off vast quantities of 
aphides from chrysanthemums and rose bushes. When pear slugs 
are full grown they feed on these to a large extent. Numbers of 
Codlin Moth grubs and other noxious insects are cleared off the 
trees or picked up on the ground by these industrious little 
birds. I am sure if anyone takes the trouble to observe them 
for a short time he will be convinced that their good deeds more 
than counterbalance their evil, and that without fear or hesitation 
they can be counted among the farmers' feathered friends, one 
that in a quiet, unostentatious manner helps him in his daily 
fight against the multitude of pests with which he is waging 
continual warfare. 
In concluding, may I ask those who have the preservation of 
our native avi-fauna at heart to endeavour to check the ruthless 
slaughter of our best birds (not game birds) that goes on year by 
year through poison and the gun of the " pot-hunter." It is only a 
question of a few years and many of our birds will be as extinct 
as the Dodo. May I ask farmers and orchardists not to be too 
hasty in the condemnation of any and every bird they see on 
their fruit-trees and in their fields of growing corn t A little 
time spent in observation, and one or two shot and their crops 
examined, would save the lives of scores. 
