DEATH TO THE GRUB.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1647, 14 January 1913, Page 10

DEATH TO THE GRUB.

. l IMPORTS OP LAPWING ADVOCATED. t The importation, of the lapwing as ,a. means of checking, the various grub pests' which trouble the farmer is suggested by Mr; J. Lainbie, of Ashburton, • who uiauesomo- inquiries in the above connection when on a visit to Scotland recently.. Mr. Lambio had some experience of. the. birds iu' Scotland before ho took up farming in New Zealand, and his experience convinces him that it will be as useful in Canterbury as it is at Home. Lapwings have been introduced into ] New Zealand already. A. few. were liberated in the Auckland district in 1870, and information shows that the efforts, at ac- t climatisatibn were successful in several ' northern- districts. The birds are credited • with killing, largo numbers of wireworms and grubs in the spring, and no complaints are made against them.; -Mr.- Lambie suggests that the" birds; ( when imported to this country, should be liberated on the shores of Lake Elles- t mere and of inland lakes in Canterbury, f where' there are marshy places. Thero the lapwing will be quite at home. In ' selecting its haunts, however, it shows t a wide range of adaptability. In the'Bri- ( tish Isles in tho summer time it fro-, quents open downs, moors, fallow, marshy I commons, heaths, and meadows. _ It feeds 6olely. on small animals, especially in- j sects, .worms, and'molluscs, and it finds' j its food supplies in many different places,' 1 "on the driest soils and on the fattest' i pastures,"/ Professor A. Newton wrote: ■'And'upltui'd. and feh, arable arid moorland are alike to it, provided that tho' ground is sufficiently open." •' The lapwing belongs to the plover fam- ; 'fly, and it is its eggs that are collected in tons of thousands and placed on tho London markets as "plovers' eggs." This practice ; has largely: decreased the lap--wing's; nvimbers in the Old.Country, but it is still the most plentiful of the plov-. ers. At one time,-in addition to the local : supplies, about 800,000 lapwings', eggs' were sent to England every year; , from ; the,province of Friesland, in Hoi- . land,'alone. . "■.