Il4 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
Farmers, in fact, began to understand that a choice 
of two alternatives lay before them. The one, to kill 
off the rooks, and allow their crops to be wholly 
destroyed by insects; the other, to allow the birds 
free access to their fields, and to submit to the loss of 
a small part of their produce in consideration of the 
The Rook. 
preservation of the great remainder. And common 
sense and self-interest at last led them to choose the 
latter. 
It is somewhat strange, however, that such a pre- 
cedent should not have been followed in the case of 
