PROTECTED BIRDS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 256, 28 July 1927, Page 6

PROTECTED BIRDS

STARLINGS’ BAD HABITS DAMAGE TO FRUIT The habits of certain birds as they affect fruitgrowers and farmers formed the subject of au interesting discussion in the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon in the committee stage of Sir Thomas Mackenzie’s Animals Protection and Game Amendment Bill. The Hon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes said it was a move in the right direction to protect native birds effectively, but ho thought the effect of the Bill was to protect one or two others which were not native birds, such as the starling aud the brown owl. The latter was one of the greatest enemies of native birds. Ho thought that they should bo excluded from tho operation of the Bill. Ho had no personal objection to tho starling. It did a great amount of good, but he did uot think with some that it picked ticks from sheep’s backs. Tho starling was a great nuisance to orchardists, as it was a great fruit cater. He would like to see the paradise duck and the pukeko or pukaki protected, but he did not think the proposal in the Bill was the right way to go about it. The Hon. L. M. Isitt said the starling was becoming every season more and more a nuisance. Apart from stone fruits, great damage was done to pears by this bold bird. The Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie agreed with much that Sir Heaton Rhodes had said and proposed to meet tho difficulty regarding the starling and tho owl by amending- the clause to exclude from the operation of tho Act any imported birds. 'The paradise duck had increased because of the protection granted 22 or 23 years ago, when it was nearly extinct. It was only pot hunters who would go out after paradise ducks. Our native birds, which included many species peculiar to this country, wero too sacred to be exterminated. The Hon. V. 11. Reed put in a strong plea for the starling and also for the pukeko, which might bo something of a nuisance, but was oue of the most beautiful birds in the country. ■ The Hon. G. M. Thomson said the good the starlings did far outweighed the damage it caused even in gardens. The brown owl had been specially introduced by tho Otago Acclimatisation Society to cope with tho small fruit-eating birds. In this it had proved very successful, and he did not think it took a great toll of native birds. The starling and the owl should not be removed from the list, and he would be sorry also to see protection removed from pukeko or paradise ducks. Tho Hon. E. Scott said the blackbird was a great destroyer of fruit and was as bad as tho starling. A voice: He’s worse. Mr. Scott agreed that the good done by starlings far outweighed the damage wrought by them. Sir Heaton Rhodes, in reply, said members had lost sight of the fact that they were not taking these birds off tho protected list, but if the Bill' were passed it would require an Act of. Parliament to permit them to be shot. The hedgehog was the greatest enemy in the country to any bird that nested on tho ground. On tho motion of Sir Thomas Mackenzie, an amendment was passed to meet the objection of Sir Heaton Rhodes. The Ell! was reported as amended, and was set down for third reading to-day.