92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



the cold climate of Newfoundland, watches with fairy-like, zealous 

 guardianship our flowers and fruit blossoms. 



It remains but to speak of the Fringillidoe or finches, with their 

 allied family the starlings, which I have retained till last. Of 

 these, T am uncertain as to the utility and practical economy of the 

 pine grosbeak, the purple finch, the crossbills, and the linnets; and 

 will leave these, hoping that some future careful investigator will 

 give us the results of a series of investigations as to the relation 

 existing between these birds and the food they seek and require. 

 All are migratory, and all periodical in their abundance or rarity 

 in any given locality. Future investigation will doubtless enlighten 

 us with regard to the special food of many of the birds really use- 

 ful in agriculture, but whose precise economy is as yet either not 

 known at all, or imperfectly known at best. Of these birds I 

 woTild call especial attention to the yellowbird, or thistle-bird, as it 

 is often called, as occupying a prominent place. It is eminently a 

 seed-eater, and feeds principally in the fall, when its food is glean- 

 ings, and when the gleanings are worm-eaten, worm or larva- 

 inhabiting, and otherwise unfruitful seeds. It is then eminently a 

 gleaner in garden and in field, by roadside and in hedgerows. 

 The yellowbird is found migrating from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 and from the fur countries to far "down south." 



The snowbird and the tree sparrow follow close. They both 

 come together and go together. Immense flocks fill the deserted 

 grain fields and feed upon the gleanings, picking up occasional 

 beetles and grubs that come in their way ; both are found from 

 Labrador to the Rocky Mountains; they migrate together and they 

 breed together; they are alike most beneficial in every way to the 

 farmer and agriculturist. The song-sparrow clears the hedges; the 

 swamp-sparrow abounds in swampy thickets; the grass-finch or 

 bay-winged bunting perfectly swarms in fields and along the out- 

 skirts of the woods, while the white-throated sparrow is equally 

 abundant in groves and thickets; each migrate in immense flocks; 

 each is found from the Atlantic nearly or quite to the Pacific; 

 each has his place and does not interfere with the other; and each 

 does good in his peculiar and separate line, and, so to speak, aims 

 at remedying a peculiar evil; while each is highly beneficial in 

 every sense of the word. Along the seacoasts the Savannah spar- 

 row fills its place. In the woodlands and along mountainous dis- 

 tricts, both seashore and interior, the fox-sparrow — the Cana- 



