Page:Acclimatisation; its eminent adaptation to Australia.djvu/25

23 The brilliant rifle birds (allied to the. creepers), of which there are three known species, two of large size, and the no less elegant regent birds, would be a great acquisition as ornamental birds; and I have no doubt they could be successfully reared in confinement by placing them in large wire enclosures with trees, in a manner similar to that erected by Mr. T. Holt at Cook's River, for the blackbirds and thrushes.

It would be well to impress upon the public in this colony the necessity of preserving birds to a certain extent, so as to fulfil what nature has ordained with infinite wisdom and care, the equalisation of the races, and of obtaining a knowledge of their habits and economy, which will be found valuable to man as regards his comfort, as well as affording him security from important depredations. Many, regardless of this, are continually destroying useful animals, and become thereby the means of permitting those of a noxious kind to increase. In October 1850, the territory of New South Wales suffered severely from the devastation occasioned by aphides; and all the cruciferous vegetables, as cabbages, &c., were almost entirely destroyed by them throughout the colony, when many of the soft-billed birds, ruthlessly killed or driven away, might have prevented the evil. Every endeavour should, therefore, be made for the preservation of our useful and ornamental indigenous birds and animals, for if the wholesale destruction of birds and their eggs proceed in the same ratio as at present, and the acclimatisation societies in Europe rear and preserve them, there is no doubt we shall have to import many of our valuable birds from Europe, for, among many others, the emeu is becoming scarce in this country. In Tasmania, it is extinct in a wild state. Birds have been found of such importance in Europe to the gardener and agriculturist, that in the French Senate, in June last, M. Bonjeau read a report on four petitions, praying that measures might be taken to preserve birds which destroy insects hurtful to agriculture. The report is an amusing essay upon insect-eating birds, their habits, anatomy, and species of food. It treats at length of the ravages of insects, and the importance to man of the objects they destroy. France, as well as other countries, is infested with thousands of species of insects, nearly all of which prey oil what should serve the purposes of man. The first section of the report is headed, "Importance of Birds to Agriculture." It states that the wire-worm consumed £160,000 worth of corn in one department alone, and was the cause of the three deficient harvests which preceded 1856. Out of 504 grains of colza gathered at hazard at Versailles,