Travees. — The Bird as the Labourer of Man. 11 



we know, delights in preserving a due balance between the 

 various forms of life, whether animal or vegetable ; but man, 

 in his ignorance and wilfulness, is constantly interfering with 

 natural operations, often falsely attributing the evil which 

 results to anything but his own shortsightedness and folly. 

 Hence the proposed legislation. 



I will now conclude this address by quoting a passage 

 from Michelet's work, which will show you that ignorance 

 and selfishness are not new characteristics of the fanner. 

 "The miserly agriculturist," he says, "is the accurate and 

 forcible expression of Virgil. Miserly and blind in truth, for 

 he proscribes the birds which destroy insects and protects his 

 crops. Not a grain will he spare to the bird which during the 

 winter hunts up the future insect, seeking out the nest of the 

 larvas and daily destroying myriads of future depredators, 

 but sacks of corn to the adult insect and whole fields to the 

 grasshoppers, which the bird would have combated ! With 

 his eyes fixed on the furrow, on the present moment, with- 

 out foresight, deaf to the grand harmony which no one ever 

 interrupts with impunity, he has everywhere solicited or 

 approved of laws for suppressing the much-needed assist- 

 ance of his labour, the insect-destroying bird. And the 

 insects have avenged the bird, as we have seen it become 

 necessary in many cases to recall in all haste the banished. 

 In the Island of Bourbon, for example, a price was set on 

 each martin's head. They disappeared, and the grasshoppers 

 took possession of the island, devouring, extinguishing, burn- 

 ing up with harsh acridity all that they did not devour. The 

 same thing occurred in North America with the starling, the 

 protector of the maize. The sparrow even, which attacks the 

 grain, but also defends it — the thieving, pilfering sparrow, 

 loaded with so many insults and stricken with so many male- 

 dictions — it has been seen that without his aid Hungary would 

 have perished, that he alone could wage the mighty war 

 against the cockchafers and the myriad-winged foes which 

 reigned in the low-lying lands. His banishment was revoked 

 and this courageous militia hastily recalled, which, though not 

 strictly disciplined, became none the less the salvation of the 

 country." 



