FEEDING OF THE YOUNG. 165 
which is particularly destructive to the roots of 
grain and young clovers.”* 
It has on similar grounds been contended, that 
the great number of birds caught by bird-catchers, 
particularly in the vicinity of London, has been 
productive of much injury to gardens and orchards. 
In the case of swallows, it has been well re- 
marked by an excellent naturalist, that they are to 
us quite inoffensive, while “ the beneficial services 
they perform for us, by clearing the air of innumer- 
able insects, ought to render them sacred and se- 
cure them from our molestation. Without their 
friendly aid, the atmosphere we live in would scarce- 
ly be habitable by man: they feed entirely on in- 
sects, which, if not kept under by their means, 
would swarm and torment us like another Egyptian 
plague. The immense quantity of flies destroyed 
in a short space of time by one individual bird is 
scarcely to be credited by those who have not had 
actual experience of the fact.” He goes on to il- 
lustrate this from a swift (Cypselus murarius, TEm- 
MINCK) Which was shot. “It was in the breeding 
season when the young were hatched; at which 
time the parent birds, it is well known, are in the 
habit of making little excursions into the country 
to a considerable distance from their breeding-pla- 
ces, for the purpose of collecting flies, which they 
bring home to their infant progeny. On picking 
up my hapless and ill-gotten prey, I observed a 
number of flies, some mutilated, others scarcely 
injured, crawling out of the bird’s mouth; the 
throat and pouch seemed absolutely stuffed with 
them, and an incredible number was at length dis- 
gorged. I am sure I speak within compass when 
I state that there was a mass of flies, just caught 
by this single swift, larger than, psp pressed close, 
* Tllustrations, p. 73. 
