STUDY VII. 



3ï 



birds of our groves which live upon them ; or, 

 becaufe, that on tranfporting the trees of foreign 

 countries into our own, fuch as the great chefnut 

 of India, the ebony, and others, we have tran- 

 fported with them the eggs of thofe infecfls which 

 they -nourifli, without importing, likewife, the 

 birds of the fame climate which deftroy them. 

 Every country has thofe peculiar to itfelf, for the 

 prefervation of it's plants. I have (cen one, at the 

 Cape of Good-Hope, called the gardener's bird, 

 inceffantly employed in catching the worms and 

 caterpillars, which he ftuck on the thorny prickles 

 of the bufhes. I have likewife feen, in the Ifle of 

 France, a fpecies of ftarling called Martin, which 

 comes from India, and which lives entirely on lo- 

 cufts, and on other infedts which infeft the cattle. 

 If we were to naturalize thefe birds in Europe, no 

 fcientific difcovery ever made would be fo bene- 

 ficial to Man. 



But the birds of our own groves are fiill fuffi- 

 cient to clear our plains of noxious vermin, pro- 

 vided the bird-catchers were laid under a prohibi- 

 tion to entrap them, as they do, by whole coveys, 

 in their nets, not to immure them in cages, but 

 to make food of themi A fancy was adopted, fome 

 years ago, in Pruffia, to exterminate the race of 

 iparrowE, as inimical to agriculture. Every pea- 

 fant in the rountry was fubjecfled to an annual 



capitation 



