I02 
The Birds of India. 
^Tbe Bir^s of 3nMa. 
By DouGivAS Dewau, I.C.S. 
Lecture delivered before the Indian Section of the Royal Society of Arts, 
and re/produced by kind permission of the Author and R.S.A.'\ 
From the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 
[Continued Jioiii fd^'e 67, J^of. VIFI.) 
KCONOMIC OUNITHOr.OGY. 
The ecoiioiiiic aspect of tlie study of tlie birds of ludiii is the one 
likely to coiiiiiieiid itself most to the iiiemhei s of this Society. It is certainly 
the most important from a practical point of view. Unfortunately it is 
the aspect with which I am the least familiar, since I study birds purely as 
a hobby. 
I take it that all men are agreed that birds as a whole are of incalcul- 
able value to man. Were they to disappear from off the face of the earth 
Immaii existence would be impossible. As things are, insects constitute 
the dominant group of organisms. " In number of species," writes jMr. 
Maxwell-I,efro3% Imperial Entomologist to the Government of India, "in 
actual numbers or bulk, in the sum total of their activities, thej' outweigh 
all other forms of animal life at present 011 the earth." They take toll of 
all other creatures. The birds are their chief foes. It is due almost entirely 
to the efforts of the fowls of the air that insects are held in check. To 
quote Mr. Maxwell-Lefroj- again: ''Birds are the fluctuating check 011 
insect life, the safety valve as it were; they congregate where they find 
insects, regardless of their species or habits, and constantly consume the 
superfluous and superabundant insect life." 
But all birds are not equally useliil to man. Some are commonlv 
supposed to be positively harmful. Hence the economist does not look 
upon all with equal favour. He divides the fowls of the air into two 
classes — the friends and the foes of man. His policy is obviously to 
encourage the former and to lepress the latter. 
Unfortunately, it is by no means always easy to determine into which 
category a particular species falls. A great many birds, as, for example, 
flycatchers, feed exclusively on insects, and .since these latter may as a 
■whole be regarded as man's most deadly enemies, it follows that all pureU' 
insectivorous birds are his very gooii friends. On this point there can be no 
difference of opinion. Nor can any one doubt that those fowls of the air 
which subsist mainly on insects are of great utility to man. 
Mr. MaxwelI-I,efroy writes in his " Indian Insect Pesls " : — "A large 
Dumber of birds are wholly insectivorous, a large number are partly so, and 
every one of these deserves ])rotectiou and encouragement." In other 
words, the great majority of birds are useful to man. 
FuiKND.S OK I'OK.S 
But there exists a multitude of feathered creatures that are not purely 
insectivorous. There are the raptores, which devour other birds, small 
