5^ Ut^ilUyof Birds In dejlroymg TnfeSis, 



iUid in forefts. After the young have left the nefts, the pa^ 

 rents condiift them to the gardens and habitations of men. 

 Here the whole brood dwells in trees near the houfcs, where 

 they are fed with the common houfe-fly, and other infeiSla 

 that are caught by the old birds. The young ones are fooa 

 capable of obtaining their food in the fame way- Thi* 

 foecies of mufcicapa vifits us in the fpring, and commonly 

 continues with us until late in September, when it retires 

 ibutherly to winter. 



^^ II. The moiacilla fialh, or blue-bird, feeds principally, 

 if not entirely, upon infecSls, both fuch as are flying and fuch 

 $s are reptile. It is faid they eat currants, 

 , '^ III. Mod of our fpecies of picus, or wood-pecker, ap-» 

 ^ar ,to me to be very ufeful in dcftroying infedls, particu- 

 larly thofe which injure our foreft and orchard trees. It is 

 true, thefe birds are fometimes injurious to us, by eating 

 ibme of our fmefl fruits, particularly our cherries, and there- 

 fore pains are taken to expel them from our gardens. But 

 they devour vafl: numbers of infe(9:s, particularly fome of 

 thofe fpecies which prove fo deftru^tive to the trunk of the 

 trees, fuch as the coleopterous infedls, w^hich, perhaps, do as 

 much mifchief as the caterpillars. 



^* IV. As a devourer of pernicious infers, one of the moft 

 ufeful birds with which I am acquainted is the houfe-rwren, 

 or certhia fardiliaru ? This litlle bird feems peculiarly fond 

 of the fociety of man, and it muft be confefled that it is 

 often protefted by his interefted care. From obferving tho 

 ufefulnefs of this bird in deftroying infecSls, it has long been 

 a cuftoin, in many parts of our country, to fix a fmall box 

 at the end of a long pole, in gardens^ about houfes, &c. as a 

 place for it to build in. In thefe boxes they build and hatch 

 their young. When the young arc hatched, the parent birds 

 feed them with a variety of different infedts, particularly fuch 

 as are injurious in gardens. One of my friends was at the 

 trouble to obierve the number of times a pair of thefe bird# 

 came from their box, and returned with infers for their 

 young, lie found that they did this from forty to fixty times 

 in an hour ; and, in one particular hour, the birds carried 

 fpQ^ to their young feventy-one times, In tl:^is bufinefs they 



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