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 Jan., 1908 THE LOCUST-DESTROYING BIRDS OF THE TRANSVAAL 11 disturbing the balance which nature at all times, in her own many varied methods, ever is desirous of maintaining. Every agriculturist ought to be, in measure at least, also an ornithologist-- a bird man, capable of intelligent observation, capable of estimating the results of such observations and thereby arrive at conclusions which would prove helpful in estimating the proper balance to be aimed at, the proper relation to be desired, say, between species and nmnbers, between natural and artificial food supply and such like factors of compensation. Among the serious pests to the farmer in all parts of the world insects occupy a place of almost primary importance. I well remember the second day I was in South Africa. I strolled out into the bush; the day was warm and the verdure and softness of the turf suggested a most pleasant resting place. Scarcely had I lain down than I was covered with myriads of creeping things. Insects of all possible shapes and colors ran over my outstretched body. They were all strangers to me and not knowing their intentions toward me, a foreigner, I was not long in decid- ing that until we were better acquainted I would refrain from taking mine ease upon the "soft and silent turf." The climatic and physical conditions of such an immense area of land as the Transvaal of course modify in a very perceptible man- ner its avifauna; thus, long stretches of park-like lands, rich in bush and verdure; then perhaps great areas devoid of all save scrubby grasses but ultimately terminat- ing, not infrequently, in river banks, dense in shrubbery and tall reeds. Such variation of necessity finds its counterpart in a varied bird life which, especially to a stranger, presented an almost irresistible fascination. Indeed not infrequently one was prone to overlook one's outpost duty and revel in the attractive and novel seduction of the brilliantly plumaged birds flitting to and fro, scarcely disturbed by the white intruder, who to them must have been in very truth a rata avis. With such memories as these it seems almost a misfortune to learn that civilization has stepped in, and on the old fighting grounds is found the uniformed inspector, the museum expert, or other representative of a Bureau of Entomology or a Depart- ment of Agriculture. Do not these investigators only too surely indicate that man's intrusion has upset nature's compensatory balances, and the harmony of supply and demand being broken, artificial aid must come to succor the friend or destroy the enemy of the farmer and orchardist? We have today quite a corps of field experts doing service in the Transvaal and who by the reports forwarded to headquarters are not merely affording valuable as- sistance to the agriculturist but adding much important knowledge which is most helpful to the ornithologist. Among the insect pests up-country in Transvaal, Orange River country and other regions none demand more serious consideration than the locust. The Red Locust and the Brown, both migratory in habits, are guilty of much injury to crops, ripened grain and even to the pasturage on the veldt. The mature insect, owing to its great powers of flight, is more injurious, but the insect in an earlier stage known to the Boers as "Voetganger" is capable of much destruction. Al- most all of the local birds, even hard-bills, eat locusts, while some are such free feeders upon the insects that they have been classed as Locust Birds. Our esteemed colleague, F. Thomsen, Assistant Chief Locust Officer, in his last official report to the Department of Agriculture, gives some interesting notes, the result of his ob- servations in the field; these conjoined with such facts as have been personally recorded will enable us to learn something regarding these leathered friends of the farmers of the Transvaal. The locust is a powerful insect on the wing and to encounter a swarm in