SECRETAKY'S PORTFOLIO. 371 



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to be fond of eggs, and is not at all particular in regard to their kind, whether 

 it be those of the duck, hen, or those of some wild bird in the field or forest. 

 But with all their faults, there can be little doubt that they do far more good 

 than harm, in destroying many millions of noxious insects. Only give the crow 

 half a chance and he is the best insect collector known, and there is scarcely 

 anything of the kind that comes amiss, for he has a voracious appetite and a 

 good digestion, and I'bave known a young half-fledged crow to devour a hun- 

 dred rose-beetles for breakfast, without appearing to be at all uncomfortable 

 afterward, or lose his appetite for a good dinner of the same. 



BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



In an admirable address by William Saunders, before the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario, we find the following extracts, which are incorporated in 

 this portfolio with a great deal of satisfaction : 



The question of insectivorous birds, and their influence on the insect world 

 about us, is attracting much attention, and the more the subject is discussed 

 the more evident it becomes that very little indeed is known in reference to it; 

 that our ideas as to what should guide us are largely inherited, or otherwise 

 based on sentiment, rather than resting upon well-ascertained facts. I am 

 well aware that to plead in favor of the birds is a popular course to follow; 

 but the true student of nature is ever seeking after truth, and whether the 

 facts he discovers are in accord with long cherished opinions and popular 

 fancies, or are directly opposed to them, are questions of little moment. The 

 facts, whatever they may be, are what we want. 



Insectivorous birds may be conveniently divided into three classes : First, 

 those which take their food entirely on the wing; second, those which feed 

 partly on the wing and partly from trees and shrubs, and on the ground ; and 

 third, those which take no food on the wing, but feed entirely either on the 

 ground or from trees or shrubs. In the first class, besides some rare birds 

 which we do not need to mention here, the following are found common in 

 most parts of our Province: the swallows (Rirundinidc&), kingbird {Tyrannus 

 Carolinensis), pewee {Sayornis fuscus), and nighthawk (Chordeiles popetue). 

 The food of these birds consists chiefly of flies, a large proportion of which 

 cannot be said to be either noxious or beneficial ; many of them in the earlier 

 stages of their existence live in the water, where they devour decaying vegeta- 

 tion, or feast on the lower and simpler forms of animal and vegetable life. 

 The larvae of many others are scavengers, devouring decaying or putrescent 

 animal and vegetable matter, and hence well deserve to be classed with bene- 

 ficial insects. In the same class of friendly species will rank a considerable 

 number of others which are parasitic on the bodies of caterpillars ; also, the 

 rapacious species who sustain themselves by devouring the weaker and less 

 vigorous of their race. A few rare exceptions, of which the wheat midge and 

 Hessian fly may be noted as examples, are very injurious to field crops, while 

 the mosquito and black fly are universally branded as enemies to the human 

 race. These birds also devour a few butterflies and moths ; but these, with 

 few exceptions, are harmless. The question, then, to what extent these purely 

 insectivorous birds are beneficial to the farmer or fruit grower, reasonably ad- 

 mits of much difference of opinion, for while they do devour a few of our tor- 

 mentors, they probably destroy a much larger number of beneficial insects, the 



