256 INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. 



security to popular prepossessions equally with- 

 out any rational foundation. Many birds, which 

 subsist almost entirely on insects, as the cuckoo, 

 redstart, and flycatcher, are shot by ignorant 

 gardeners and nurserymen, indiscriminately with 

 those species which feed principally on the seeds 

 of plants and other vegetable productions. The 

 goatsucker and the hedgehog are falsely accused 

 of sucking the teats of animals, and a price, 

 usually paid out of the parish rates, is still given 

 for the latter in many parts of England;* and 

 those beautiful and harmless reptiles, the common 

 snake and blind- worm, are destroyed without 

 pity, upon the groundless supposition that they 

 are venomous. 



These are a few instances only, selected from 

 many that have fallen under my own observation, 

 of the pernicious consequences which result from 

 an ignorance of that useful portion of natural 

 history, which at present engages our considera- 

 tion. 



♦ Sixpence a head, I am well informed, has been recently 

 obtained for hedgehogs in this parish. Now it is truly disgrace- 

 ful, that any portion of the public money should be expended 

 to encourage the destruction of an inoffensive animal, which 

 derives its support from insects and vegetables, because, in the 

 absurd opinion of the vulgar, it is injurious to cattle. 



