194 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUEE. 



mSECT-EATIKG BIEDS. 



MIDDLESEX NORTH. 

 Prize Essay by Frank H. Palmer, Boxford. 



[The following Essay was presented at the fair of the Middlesex North Agricultural Society 

 and received the first prize of fifty dollars offered by the Massachusetts Society for the Preven- 

 tion of Cruelty to Animals.] 



The practical utility of our native birds as agents for the 

 destruction of noxious insects can hardly be overestimated. 



By studying the 

 habits of birds 

 and insects we 

 may easily dis- 

 cover the impor- 

 tant part which 

 each plays in the 

 economy of na- 

 ture, and history 

 itself proves that 

 any material in- 

 terference with 

 their relations to 

 each other is sure 

 to be followed 

 by disastrous re- 

 sults. Hence the 

 subject becomes 

 of deepest im- 

 portance not 

 alone to the ag- 

 riculturist but to 

 every one who 

 has either a busi- 

 ness or patriotic 

 interest in our 

 country. Na- 

 ture, if left to 



Fig. 1.— Sparrow-hawk. Tinmmcidus Sparverius. (Raptores.) hcrSClf, estab- 

 lishes a wholesome balance amongst her creatures ; that is, 



