Control of the Sudan dioch or red-billed finch in Tanganyika

Abstract

Quelea birds (Quelea quelea tethiopica) have been a problem to agriculture throughout eastern Africa for many years, doing enormous and widespread damage to African crops of sorghum, millet, eleusine, rice and other small grain crops. During the past 15 years increasing damage to wheat and barley crops has been suffered both in Kenya, where, in 1952, 100,000 bags of wheat were estimated as destroyed, and also in the Northern Province of Tanganyika. While the attacks on the wheat crops have not been annual events, it has been noticed that the frequency of visitations to the wheat areas has been much increased in the last 15 years. It cannot be appreciated just how much damage is done to all crops annually until such time as an accurate district by district estimate has been compiled for both countries.