324 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



Juncos, Grosbeaks, Longspurs and Redpolls keep 

 weeds down, which, otherwise, would spread apace. 

 Laysan Island, Shan, is but a world in miniature, 

 and in the air, on the foliage of the shrubs and on 

 the ground is waged the perpetual battle between 

 the Birds and the Insects. ' ' 



''Good thing, too," answered the boy; "there 

 wouldn't be much chance for the human race, I 

 reckon, if it weren 't for the birds. ' ' 



"One summer without birds," said the Feather 

 Man solemnly, "and not a single human being 

 would live to see Christmas Day. The insect 

 tribes, innumerable, multiplying with a rapidity 

 that absolutely defies the power of the greatest 

 mathematicians to compute, would devour every 

 green thing. Cattle and herbivorous animals the 

 world over would starve and die and their rot- 

 ting bodies would raise vast pestilences, the 

 plagues themselves insect-born and insect-spread. 

 Against the creeping and the gnawing hordes all 

 Man's power and Man's science would be of no 

 avail. He would perish under a crawling shroud. 

 And, after he was dead, still the insects would in- 

 crease, until, driven by fierce hunger, there would 

 be nothing left for them to prey on but each other, 

 and the whole world would become a writhing, 



