THE SMALL BIRD NUISANCE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1508, 4 March 1882, Page 3

THE SMALL BIRD NUISANCE.

TO Till: I.MTOR. .Sm, — Evciy one at all acquainted with agricultmal prospects in the North Island of New Zealand must be awaie that if small birds incieasc at anything near the same rate they are .s.ud to hn\e done of late yeais, grain growing will be a hopeless puisuit. Being a comparath ely new coniev to the colony I am able to institute a compaiison between the relative numbers of small bhd& here and at home. At the picsent moment larks an<l spanows aie immevismably •vwa muncious hcic than in England, and fi om the entire absence of the natuial checks which picvent then cxcs&ivc multiplication in England, asc may ieasonnbly suppose that they a\ ill meieaso yet moie and moie. The peiiodically lecuning hard winteis in England destroy laige numbcis of biuls. I believe the long frost and deep snow of 1877-78 destioyed thi co-fourths of the birds which weio not bold enough to seek subsistence in the fann-yaids and stack-yaids. With the introduction of the English small bhds theie should base been introduced the smalloi English hawks, thus keeping up a kind of natural balance ■which iiiitme seems to baNe pio\idcd all the A\oild o\ei, and -which when disluibed )>y tlic intonention of man is often followed by mischie\om results. Heic we have neither the sparrow-hawk, the kebtiel, the meilin, tlie stoat, the weasel, nor any of the English owls, all of which contribute in a greater or less degree to the desttuction of small In ids at homo ; nor as far as I see ha\ ewe anything coiio&pondmg to them. The eieat sluggish hawks heie appear to me to be quite u eless as small bud catcher. Last winter &c\ ci.il of them attended me whihfc J >wi-> keeping the laiks fiom a newly s|)routing Jiekl of wlie.it, at first I thought they wcio leudciing me \aluable assistance, but soon discoveicd they veio only picking up tiic lai ks that I shot, and nc\er caught one for themselves. 1 may hcic stafc'tliat in New Zealand, as at home, I found powder and shot the most effectne pie-\entivc of the depiedations of links on spi outing grain. To attempt to protect sprouting giain from the depredations of larks 1 by the use of poisoned wheat is a delusion. The lark is comparatively a soft-billed biid, much moie insectivorous and hcrbivoious than grmnivoious, and, as I experienced to my cost this year, very much prefer the spionting blade or softened grain of the newly \egcfating plant, to any delicacy I could oiler it in the shape of poisoned wheat. On ic^oiting to shot ana powder I found that 1 was met by a duty on the powder, a duty on the shot, a shilling T think, connected w ithsomendiculous foi m of license every time I -went to get a fresh supply. These, w ith legitimate trade profits, rendered the priced ammunition much moie than double what it is at home, and the huk& being pertinacious, I shot about sixteen shillings' woith of powder and shot away in little moi c than a day. As powder and shot avc the only effective means of checking the depredations of the Luks, it is essential to the prosperity of .lgiiculture heie that these articles should be as cheap as possible. Powder of adequate stiength ior that purpose is sold in England at one shilling per pound. To poison the small birds with any degiec of success, I think the attempt should bo made simultaneously, and that the period chosen should be neither seed time nor harvest. For the effectual performance of this operation it would, perhaps, be necessary to levy a late, and if such could not be done without legislative sanction, to seek such sanction ior the purpose. .Small proproprietors ought not to object, as small plots of grain suffer much more in proportion to their size than large ones. * Many English parishes voluntarily rate themselves for the destruction of sparrows. Fiom the absence of the natural checks to increase which I have named above, it is far more necessary that some vigorous effort for the same purpose should be attempted here. Hoping to see united action on this subject— l am, etc., Jos. J. Bakitgi:. Wartle, February 3rd.

A mkdical man says children need more wraps than adults. They generally get more. Essay ox llexs— On the subject of hens a boy writes :— Hens is curious animals. They don't have no nose, nor no teeth, nor no ears. They swallow their wittles whole and chew it up in their crops inside of 'em. The outside of hens is generally put inter pillars and inter feather dusters. The inside of a hen is sometimes filled with marbles and shirt buttons and such. A hen is very much smaller than a good many other animals, but they'll dig up more cabbage plants than anything that ain't a hen. Hens is very useful to lay eggs for plumpuddings. Skinney Bates eat so much pluin-pudding once that it sent liim inter the colliery. Hens has 'got wings, and. can fly when they get scart. I cut Uncle William's hen's head off' with a hatchet, and it scart her to death. Hens sometimes make very fine spring chickens.