366 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
increased in numbers rapidly enough to be of marked value in 
combating the locust pest. Like the mountain sparrow the 
starling has spread to towns in the vicinity of Manila ; it is found 
in some of the towns about Lake Bay, and it was noted at 
Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, in 1909 ; but while the former species is 
also established in the city of Cebu, the latter has been recorded 
only on Luzon. 
The damage done by locusts constitutes one of the most serious 
problems of the agriculturist in the Philippine Islands.^® The 
presence of these insects may be unsuspected until a few appear 
and alight. These may be so few, perhaps from three to five 
individuals to a square meter, as to cause little damage and 
comment. They may remain to feed, but often they move on in 
a few hours. Then there may appear a thicker flock so that 
ten, fifteen, or twenty are flushed at each step. As they become 
more numerous the rushing of their wings has an ominous sound, 
they obscure the sun, and bright green trees turn brown as the 
myriads settle to feed ; corn, rice, and coconut leaves are stripped 
to the midrib. They settle on bamboos in such numbers that 
their weight causes even the largest of these trees to bend 
so that the tips of the stems nearly touch the ground. After 
the locusts have left, the ground beneath a clump of bamboo is 
littered with excreta and shredded leaves, as if twenty pounds of 
dust shot had been fired into the tops of the trees from the horn 
of a phonograph. They will eat even the dry nipa leaves on the 
roofs of houses. In a few hours or a day the main flock moves 
on, and at the end of two days there is usually none left. 
The attempt to reduce the number of locusts by killing the 
adults is much like trying to restrain the tide with a broom. 
When the flock of locusts attacks a crop, there is comparatively 
little value in anything that can be done against them. Millions 
are caught in large scoop nets ; these are killed in boiling water, 
and hundreds of bushels are sold for food in the Manila markets. 
Several species of birds eat locusts, and at times a curious mixed 
company of rollers, hawks, cuckoos, and other species can be 
seen in the air and on the ground eating them to repletion. Al- 
though birds eat many of the adult locusts, ten times as many 
birds would have no perceptible effect upon the flocks. Birds 
probably eat many locusts in the young stages and may thus 
"Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 5 (1910) 219. 
“See Jones, C. R., and Mackie, D. B., Philip. Agr. Rev. 6 (1913) 5-22; 
also Mackie, D. B., ibid. 538. 
