NATURE'S DISINFECTANT

Evening Star, Issue 17037, 7 May 1919, Page 6

NATURE'S DISINFECTANT

PROPHYLACTIC BIRDS. In animated nature the antipathies wid sympathies which interest and amaze mankind have given rise to so much inconclusive discussion that only a limited view of their manifestation will be here taken. Oi the work performed for us in Australia by birds none is more noticeable, though unfortunately but little recognised by us, than that accomplished by our crow or raven. Its attainments were first recorded in the Old Testament, in which it appears as the first individual bird mentioned. Noah's honored, though too voracious, messenger, the raven, did not re-enter its former home, though perchance it returned to perch on the roof of the ark. Later on the raven was entrusted with the high honor of feeding Elijah the Prophet. According to the early Christian poet Sedulius, this dark-robed bird expiated those sins on land that it had perpetrates in the Flood, and thus entirely rehabilitated itself. Most persons have been unfortunately, though innocently, taught through the medium of verse, prose, and pictures to regard the crow as something ill-omened or repulsive, owing to its penchant for carrion, and its occasional weakness, when tempted by the opportunity presented to it, to commit an assault on the eye of some prostrate ewe or lamb, probably believing them to be moribund, or to "steal the eggs of birds and reptiles. Certain it is that it does some damage, but not ol such a widespread nature as to hav« merited such odium. More assured il still is that it does a vast amount of good, and that its virtues far outweigh its vices. In fact, its character is not so black as its livery. Like the vultures of the tropics, which sweep out and purify the town before the inhabitants rise, and before the powerful sun's rays stimulate the masses of garbage, thrown out without due regard to sanitary requirements, into a festering mass of putrefaction and disease-giving germs, so the crows and ravens with wonderful regularity, day by da%*, traverse our vast Commonwealth and dispose of incalculable quantities of material that would otherwise form a potential source from which a never-ending stream of toxic bacteria would flow to prey upon both the human and other animals, and which would bring misery and death in its wake. Their good works for us as preventers of pestilence can therefore be likened to the efforts of those scientists engaged in the laboratory preparing vaccines or anti-toxic sera to combat and prevent the devastating effects of scourges like plague, small-pox, anthrax, and rinderpest, with a view to alleviate the suffering of humanity generally. Just watch the crows and ravens flocking to the banquet on the loathsome carcases of our sheep and cattle strewn around on every hand, which have expired during a drought, through want of grass, or which have been stricken down by redwater fever, due to the tick pest or other causes. Without compunction, and with decency and propriety, observe the corpses vanish. In a moment a frightful mass oi putrescence which man haa shunned has re-entered the pure and wholesome current of universal life, and thus their action has been truly prophylactic. Do they possess any special adaptation which makes them immune to virulent germs? Have_ any researches been made in this direction: Little do we realise that the removal of decaying animal matter by crows prevents the * undue increase of the blowfly—a pest which is a carrier of disease to our homes, and the loss as well of money to our pastoralista through the damage to the wool of their sheep when " blown" by flies. Licensed by nature these birds act as scavengers principally in the country districts. Reliability is their motto, they never go on strike, and all they desire is to be left without interference to do their self-im-posed task for us. What would Countries like India and Egvpt'have done if they had not had such birds as the adjutant, "vulture, and crow to cleanse their cities of offal. Do we fully comprehend why these birds have been placed on this universe with us, and why it is passing strange that the more useful they are to us the more odious they appear to seem. They purify as if with lire, turning the corrupt into the incorrupt on land, just as certain gulls do on the sea and shore. In America the crow and the raven arc, stranse to say, recognised by some as an aid to the fisheries. At certain times of the year, there as here, they repair to the beaches on the coast and devour starfish. an i sea urchins, the known enemies of the oyster and welk-beds. These creatures get astride the shellfish and pierce the hard shell as if with a sharp drill by the u.-» of their small sharp teeth set in their peculiar jaws, which are known as Aristotle's lantern, and abstract the succulent contents of the shellfish's body. T' v 0 ri'rid "*u a<= es crows and ii i u t jm the imrnd* oi nrx oi* I l t g i 1 c cipillai Tne c j 5 oi iti l =reupb o mid t! it „t terri'lif DoubJess these ci t 1 hdo rl sh enormous qinnt t sol f.rr r ot l ei "u<=t. spoil our pa=t ires tl J i fc tnem hi\e a riu it i; ] ctheri i e reoelle t \\ he t ih cha ice tbej i count foi =mdl! r i ihj j* field mice aid as \ ill in <*i e ie read K t ken 1 i rt meo tl ecr tias a sa ei i 1 e r n ail Ind a it is £ IV he t \ de'f te tie fact s *> ire n £ c ' C JMn of oir (. ommon \ c 1 <.« r i at the tront =a\s th t he J r l =t ?! tlei milk r\ mlk i hj r =uriej t tio 1 1 Th « « a crn }I el \th row wl «t the cow standi »u „ r "t the lei lag r jumj n g r der the c \ <=. uid i sei/m„ tt t t, cei it n andibles and b\ han"ii o 1 1 c r\ drorp n d v ix-urd" t r a. dr p '•two o! imlL *o Lt, ex\ i<- «;ed to i« th jt !> is act ir j e ittd ur tlt r c is <= ish^d O d 1 1 1 leths lemai i l 1 i M!' ]er r at 1 IHe eve lin m \ c ee jir t les ie t p d t t por n\ vitcb v hj bl I r in < it n I i e iid ■*' txj r e c iff iif 1 u <_d r t r in \ Th s l a 1 t i ft r f ri red ir end ilth i I c t t1 11 pi f ex on i fII e e t{• Jcd hj t t f i n 1 b i ttl e rp li hj fi ii 11 gd Ih I t ' i 1 l s rife te s r stai tali t & tl lij rf "" 7*l i rit \ u d i I 1 oor p: n n ■» hive l>i hn vn o 5 1 \ it 11 i It ii 1 < t t. 1 obit « hjs b» ti ' * J \ 1 l«t t » ke t 1 \oi i I U if ti -cd r v t \ th 1 rrfipsfinnN e r"\ 1 hmg de ' i 1 t nt i red r1 r * 11 o gh ff tig the r stncl tn 1 <l hi r t i y hj the I -. 1 ~ 1 tit i lilt 1 II o \eri n J I i I 1 tl« 1 i tied i x j Scff ni it 1 i| f 1 st I r i ii t r I er * i 1 *■ 1 t 1 1 ' it. s p in i I v tl tnd tl e i 3 c t t t cd \ i 1 n t i i t 1 tlr 1 inei e parate sj t b i <* imi T n f i i I re li r \ > n r ir t i tl i i* r hie ci d miic lon bfU tt tl m fh ii I i etl k. tl at hi\t ill 1 t 1 tt tl ei ntl l naj t. f th- ec nt ") tint ie dw or «-ht% «d t) fc i 1 c t\ the 1r! th he 9d 1 j 1* ' x r rUiiur t Heir I tl z r tit trrlrc rf tl i v i e )f rt d 1 le Tltri ( me mam I j c w civ? 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