10 
The Emu. 
moult would have produced a stronger red on the throat or 
reverted to the more ordinary black, as is now usual. 
Upon the evidence I make P. rainsayi, Sharpe, a variety of 
P. goodenovii, Vig. and Hors. 
Bird Protection* 
By Frank M. Littler, Launceston. 
All lovers of our native birds view with dread the wanton 
destruction that goes on year by .year in every state of Federated 
Australia. They feel that the time has arrived when united and 
strenuous efforts must be made if we wish our feathered friends, 
and even those we count as enemies, to survive and brighten our 
bush wilds with their gay plumages. 
Small boys, with their catapults " and " pea-rifles," are not 
the greatest offenders; it is that class of persons who ought to 
know better against whom we have to contend. An inborn, 
insatiable desire to kill something is one of the worst traits of 
Australian youths. They take their guns into the bush and 
are not content with legitimate game but must try their prowess 
on all and sundry that come across their path. They appear to 
feel that it is dependent on them to " slay, and slay, and slay." 
Farmers are responsible for the destruction of a great number 
of birds, the reason for which being that they consider birds 
are responsible for a large annual loss of fruit and crops. 
Such being the case they (the birds) are shot unceasingly 
whenever opportunity offers. I do not say that birds do not 
commit a certain amount of havoc every year among fruit and 
crops, but what I contend is that their good deeds far outweigh 
their bad, and this is patent to all who take the trouble to 
investigate the matter for themselves. 
Would that our farmers and orchardists studied more to dis- 
tinguish between friends and foes, and understood fully that 
if a bird in the summer takes its share of the produce, it in 
the winter pays it back with interest twice compounded by 
destroying countless numbers of hibernating larvae, eggs, and 
full-grown insects, which in the summer would perhaps ruin his 
harvest of grain and fruit completely. 
Fortunately, in this island State birds are not destroyed for 
the sake of their plumage, to satisfy the vanity of the fairer 
sex. But this is done to a certain extent in the other States, 
and in an alarming degree in nearly every other country in 
the world. 
Now to consider the case of a suburban garden, with its 
limited stock of fruit trees, jealously watched over by their 
owner, who, in his mind's eye sees the luscious fruit ready for 
picking when the right time comes. In due course the fruit 
ripens, and the owner views it with expectant eyes, thinking 
how well some will grace the table at next Sunday's dinner. 
