lobia Galea Ba 
HE scheme of the following work is sufficiently 
explained by its title, and I have only to 
regret that limitations of space have prevented me 
from mentioning many birds which I would willingly 
have described. I have felt, however, that it is 
desirable to consider at some length those which are 
more especially beneficial, rather than to treat all 
alike upon one and the same footing. 
I hold, nevertheless, that no British bird is utterly 
and wholly destructive, but that the misdeeds of even 
the most mischievous are atoned for in some degree 
by services rendered to us in other ways. Birds aid 
us in three distinct manners: firstly, by acting as 
scavengers, and destroying putrid matter ; secondly, 
by devouring the seeds of the various wild plants 
which are so troublesome upon cultivated land ; 
thirdly, and most important, by the slaughter of 
insects. And in one of these three tasks all take 
their share, lesser or greater as the case may be, but 
always appreciable and of value. 
