376 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Nov. 
Australia furnishes a good illustration of the harmfulness or otherwise 
of the sparrow, owing to its absence from Western Australia. 
One hundred and twenty-seven sparrows were examined, the majority of them 
coming from Richmond, New South Wales. Sixty-four were found to feed on wheat 
and maize. Various grass-seeds were found in others. Occasionally they have been 
found to feed on white ants, cabbage-moth larvae, cutworms, locusts, blow-flies, and 
aphids. The large amount of grain eaten far outweighs any value that the sparrow 
may have as an insectivorous bird during the period when such grain is available, but 
during other seasons of the year it probably plays a mildly useful part. Attempts at 
eradication seem to have little effect upon it, but they should be persisted in as far as 
possible without endangering other birds. 
The question as to whether we would be worse off without any sparrows than with 
them is apparently negatived by the position in Western Australia. The sparrow up 
to the present time has not reached Western Australia, and yet that State is not any 
worse off than the eastern States through their absence. It may be pointed out that 
whatever attempts are made to destroy sparrows entirely they are bound to be 
unsuccessful, though the numbers may be materially reduced. 
Two Australian species now acclimatized in New Zealand are referred 
to as follows :— 
Magpies : Though occasionally eating wheat, magpies are more essentially 
insectivorous, frequently feeding on locusts or grasshoppers, fly-larvae, &c. They 
should be rigidly protected. 
Silver-eyes : The stomach-contents of fifty-five silver-eyes have been examined. 
Forty-five of these contained vegetable food, chiefly fruits of various kinds. Thirty- 
two contained insect food. Amongst the insects occasionally eaten were cabbage- 
moths, frog-hoppers, psyllids, thrips, aphids, black-scale, and plant-bugs. 
From an assessment of its value it may be safely stated that energetic means 
should be adopted to keep the birds away from the fruit during the fruiting season ; 
in this way the fruit may be saved, but these attempts are not likely to successfully 
eliminate all the birds from the orchard affected. The birds that remain will during 
the rest of the year serve the orchardists in good stead by helping to keep down 
insect pests. 
J. A. T. 
Geology in the University and in the Service of the State, by L. Keith 
Ward, Adelaide, 1917. 
During 1917 a course of six lectures was given at the University of 
Adelaide “ on the development of the resources of the State by an efficient 
application of science to industry, and on the service of the university to 
that end,” and the lectures have been published as pamphlets. 
Mr. Keith Ward draws attention in this lecture to the value of “ stock¬ 
taking ” of the mineral resources of the State, and refers also to many 
undertakings in which the report of a competent geologist, taken in time, 
may lead to vast economies. Among these are enumerated the selection 
of railway routes and of reservoir-sites, the search for underground water, 
the drainage of surface water into porous rock to reclaim swamps, and 
the location of the best available stone for roadmaking. 
Reference is made to blunders of the class known to every geologist 
which result from a complete lack of even an elementary knowledge of 
geology on the part of those responsible, and which have led to the useless 
frittering-away of capital aggregating enormous sums in all parts of the 
world. Those cited by the lecturer would be amusing if they were not 
pathetic. Among them are the search for coal in Cambrian strata, the 
search for the source of travelled boulders in glacial tillite by prospecting- 
in the immediate vicinity of the spot where the tillite occurs, and “ the 
many dry wells sunk in many parts of South Australia in search of water 
on the advice of persons who claim the power of detecting its presence or 
