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REPORT BY Mr. L. GLAUERT ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
A CONFERENCE ‘ ‘ TO DETERMINE WHETHER CER- 
TAIN BIRDS, ETC., SHOULD BE DECLARED VERMIN 
OR OTHERWISE.” 
At the March meeting of the Royal Society Mr. J. Clark and 
I were appointed delegates to attend this Conference. It was 
held at the Rabbit Branch on March 23rd, 1921. The following 
persons were present : — 
The Hon. G. F. Baxter, 
Minister for Agriculture. 
Mr. Lane-Poole, 
Conservator of Forests. 
Mr. Male, 
1 ffistoralists' Association. 
Mr. Shall cross, 
Mr. Aldrich, 
Chief Inspector of Fisheries. 
Mr. Hamilton, 
F d ucation Dep artmen t . 
Mr. Le Souef, 
Director of the Zoo. 
Mr. L. Glauert, 
AY. A. Museum, and Royal Society. 
Mr. J. Clark, 
Royal Society and Forestry Department 
Mr. Newman, 
Entomologist, Department of Agricul- 
ture. 
Mr. A. Crawford, 
Chief Inspector of Rabbits. 
Mr. Arnold, 
Assistant Inspector of Rabbits. 
Mr. G. W. Wickens, 
Officer in Charge of Fruit Industries. 
The subjects dealt with were: — 
I. — The Domestic Cat gone Wild: 
Mr. Crawford said that he was responsible for having the cat 
gazetted as protected. There was no doubt cats did a great deal of 
destruction, and in certain districts were responsible for keeping* 
the rabbits down. For a good many years past he had noticed 
that many of the native birds had practically disappeared, and 
lie had very serious doubts as to the advisability of protecting the 
domestic cat. He referred to the great destruction that was going' 
on in the mulga in the Upper Murchison and Gascoyne. It 
appeared to him that it was due to a beetle that bored into the 
roots. He had had some roots examined and in every case there 
were or had been “bardies” in them. Formerly the natives had 
been the principal check, but they had disappeared. Other checks 
were the butcher-birds, magpies, crows, etc. Most of these were 
now being killed by cats, as also were the other insectivorous birds, 
ground larks, pipits, etc., which were being destroyed wholesale. 
