130 HIS RELATIONS WITH US 
bird eats fruit buds. Other papers copy it, and 
a war against that bird begins in every orchard. 
Whereas, the truth is, the bird was preserving 
the fruit by picking out the insects that would 
have spoiled it. This is no fancy picture; this 
very thing has happened more than once. 
And again, whatever is said about the harm 
this or that bird does, never forget this second 
fact, which I repeat, and which may be relied 
upon as perfectly trustworthy. The officers of 
the government of the United States, who have 
carefully studied the matter and found out posi- 
tively, without guesswork, what birds eat, have 
declared emphatically that every bird they have 
examined does more good by destroying pests, 
than harm to our crops, excepting only the bird 
we have imported, — the English or house spar- 
row. 
