BIRD PROTECTION IN THE INTEREST OF FARMERS

Forest and Bird, Issue 8, 1 March 1925, Page 5

BIRD PROTECTION IN THE INTEREST OF FARMERS

The first movement towards international protection for wild birds was made by farmers and foresters on the Continent, because of alarming increase in the ravages of insects. In 1895, consequent on a serious diminution of birds and corresponding increase of insects, the French Government invited all the other Governments of Europe to take part in a Conference on International Protection of Useful Birds. The Conference lasted ten days, and its members, representing nearly every European country, were unanimous as to the urgent necessity for bird protection in the interests of agriculture. France, since the bad harvest of 1861, has been trying to undo the effects of indiscriminate desrtuction of small birds. Shortly before the outbreak of the war the Minister of Agriculture gave instructions to all the professors of agriculture to teach the absolute necessity for protecting birds; and the Agricultural Society of the Gironde issued a placard, “those who destroy the little birds are the worst enemies of agriculture.” In Canada and the United States of America gigantic losses from insect depredations have in recent years led to strong measures for the preservation of birds. It is estimated that the birds of Nebraska eat 170 cartloads of insects a day, said Sir Boverton Redwood, speaking to the British Science Guild in 1914; that those of Massachusetts destroy 21,000 bushels daily, afid that a single species of hawk saves the farmers of the Western States 175,000 dollars a year by destroying grasshoppers and field-mice. Yet millions of people engage in killing the birds that destroy injurious and disease-spreading insects; and the moral of these facts applies also to New Zealand.