ON THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS. 105 
abode of the late Charles Waterton, not a bird was destroyed, nora 
nest taken, and the result was, not that his gardens were laid waste, 
but that his crops were plentiful and abundant. Mr. Ellis, of 
Leicester, writes thus to the Rev. F. O. Morris, in January, 1864: 
—‘* At Walton Hall the co-existence of many birds of prey with 
game and wild fowl is remarkable. When last spring at Mr. 
Waterton’s, the Lapwing was in friendly intercourse with the 
Carrion Crow, while Magpies and Hawks were close at hand. 
The presence, too, of a great number of Herons does not prevent 
the lake from supplying plenty of fish.” Again he writes:— 
‘‘This summer we have had two broods of the White Owl in the 
midst of a game preserve ; in thef .ning their habitation, 
and in which they nightly search f , the coveys of Partridges 
were full and undisturbed.” On .ué other hand the destruction 
of the smaller birds has proved in its results this: that if man 
attempts to regulate the operation of creation after his own 
fashion, he must certainly make a mess of it. At the present 
day this is the case in France, where the dearth of small birds 
is severely felt. The colonists of Australia and New Zealand are 
wiser in their generation; for they are doing all they can to im- 
port the small birds from England, and large numbers are now 
taken out by returning colonists. JI heard an instance some 
_ time ago where a settler at Canterbury, in New Zealand, took 
back with him a number of Blackbirds and Thrushes; and in the 
garden of the Victoria Acclimatisation Society, Sparrows, Rooks, 
Thrushes, Yellow Ammers, Blackbirds, Finches, &c., have been 
set at liberty. It seems strange that the colonists value these 
small creatures, and that we fail to do so generally in England. 
Eyen the little Titmouse, when it appears to be destroying the 
buds of trees, is really feeding on the insects within them. It 
_has been calculated that in the breeding season this small bird 
destroys some 500 of insects and caterpillars daily. I will not 
now stop to allude to our other English garden birds in detail; 
the Starling, Blackbird, Thrush,—the first an especially useful 
bird ; the two latter simply atoning by the beauty of their song 
for any damage they may commit in fruit gardens for a short 
