CATERPILLAR PEST

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20987, 16 October 1933, Page 8

CATERPILLAR PEST

THREE VALUABLE NATIVE BIRDS It is the opinion of Mr Edgar F. Stead that there are three species of native birds that would have considerable effect upon the caterpillar pest in the Ashburton district. lie informed a representative of "The Press" last night that these birds would have a very definite mission in controlling both the caterpillar and the moth in the flying stage. "The black-billed gull and the black-fronted tern eat both the moth and the grub, and do so in considex-able quantities," said Mr Stead. "Both take the moth on the wing at dusk, and the former walks about in the short grass and eats the caterpillar's, while the latter takes the caterpillars only when it can see them from the air, as it hovers over the fields. The blackbacked gull will eat enormous quantities of caterpillars by searching for them when walking about, but will not take any of the moths when on the wing." Owing to its great numbers, size, and appetite the black-backed gull would prove a very effectual agent in stopping incipient plagues when it had once found the pest. The black-billed pull and the tern would be, in the ordinary course of events, among the important agents that normally keep these caterpillars in check in many districts, he added.