BIRDS, INSECTS, &.c, 



the invader of the orchard, will be more effectual against the indweller of the mansion 

 Now, sir, though all very pleasant, this is all very absurd. It has no adaptability, even in 

 a much mitigated form from that in which I have presented it, to the existing condition 

 of things; nor can it now have. One man in a thousand may be able to adopt either sug- 

 gestion; but the circumstances of the other nine hundred and ninety-nine, render it utter- 

 ly impracticable. What we want, then, is some remedy of universal application, — some- 

 thing within the reach of all — and let the one thousandth individual, the man of money, 

 take care of himself. 



The main cause of the destruction of small birds, which, in the latter of the extracts 

 quoted, you ascribe to " unfledged sportmen who shoot sparrows," &c., is wider of the 

 mark than are the youngsters themselves, even in their most random shots. If it be true 

 that there is any great decrease of small birds, which a familiar acquaintance with them 

 for more than thirty years would lead me to gainsay, the cause alledged is not adequate 

 to the result. I have been an * unfledged sportsman' myself. I was born one. I have 

 passed through, in my experience, the whole range of * light artillery,' so terrible to your 

 imagination, from the quill pop-gun to the beautifully telling eloquence of a twin-tubed 

 'Joe Manton;' and, boy or man, I can truly say I never yet met with a disposition, even 

 in the most thoughtless, to squander his ambition upon game so insignificant as the class 

 of birds whose fancied destruction you so feelingly deplore. The instinct of economy, if 

 not of scorn, or a feeling of humanity, would forbid it. What though a ' sparrow' may 

 sometimes fall to the ground at a long shot, ' by way of improvement,' can such occasion- 

 al instances be claimed to cause their decrease to so lamentable an extent as to demand for 

 their protection an invocation to law-makers! What though our cities may turn out a 

 few aspiring young Winkles on a pleasant summer's afternoon, who, with immense pre- 

 paration, sally into the remote wilderness of the suburbs, and wake the echoes with a 

 reckless disregard of powder and shot, is their destructiveness by any means commensu- 

 rate with the noise they make? I trow not. Their intended victim, unharmed and unter- 

 rified, flies chirruping to the next bush in very mocker}^ of their aim to bag him. It is 

 easier to denounce the boys for wholesale destruction of small birds, than it is to convict 

 them of it, and as popular sympathy is against them, the denunciation as easily passes 

 unquestioned for fact. 



The other cause of the decrease of the number of small birds, and consequent increase 

 of insects, — the destruction of our forests, — I believe to be equally groundless. The effect 

 of this destruction is simply to bring in new species of each, and probably quite as many 

 birds, and no more insects than existed before. The robin, the blue-bird, the chipping 

 bird, the swallow, the marten, the wren, the ground sparrow, the oriole, and the many 

 others which enliven our farms and residences, are not found in the forests. They follow 

 in the track of civilization and appear with man and orchards. Alas, too, and so do 

 canker-worms, caterpillars, and curculio. If it is correct, then, to say that the destruc- 

 tion of the forests causes an inordinate increase of insects, it is to the extent only that 

 beech and maples give way to apple and plum trees, and leave destroyers of fruit in place 

 of others that preyed upon the trees of the forest. 



And now one word as to the utility of birds. It is a common belief that they are great 

 benefactors of man in the destruction of pestiferous insects. To this belief I am an in- 

 exorable infidel. Who over saw one of the whole race touch the caterpillar, which, at 

 this seasan, infests our orchards; or that other kindred nuisance, which, later in the sea- 

 ppears on all trees indiscriminately, often wholly enveloping them in its m 

 ork; or the slimy slug; or a single living atom of the endless legion of plant 1 



