176 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



enough small birds for the table, a cry of distress goes 

 out concerning the ravages of destructive insects. Eng- 

 land, foreseeing this danger, wisely concluded that it 

 was no longer safe to allow every idle, selfish, irrespon- 

 sible man and boy to " become a law unto himself " 

 in this matter, and that as moral suasion failed, the 

 stronger arm of the law was necessary to protect the 

 interests of those whose rights were disregarded by the 

 lawless. Stringent bird laws were enacted, and as a 

 result, several species of song birds in England are 

 again on the increase. 



I do not believe we have a single native bird that is 

 not a greater creditor than debtor to man, while nearly 

 all species are entirely useful, conferring only benefits 

 and inflicting no injury. When unmolested by man, 

 wonderfully well do the}^ fill their places in the econ- 

 omy of nature. Among them are fitting workers in the 

 air, the swamps, the forests, along water-courses, in 

 orchards, gardens, meadows, grain fields and pastures, 

 busy all the day in their priceless feeding services, yet 

 most of them finding time to still farther gladden the 

 world by their minstrelsy. 



In usefulness, the thrush family doubtless stands 

 first. The benefits conferred on husbandry by them 

 are incalculable. This family work principally on the 

 surface of the earth, devouring in great numbers all 

 manner of worms, grubs, harvest-flies, beetles, cater- 

 pillars, and other creeping things that prey on roots and 

 stalks of vegetation. In this service no others excel 

 the robins, the most familiar of the thrushes ; these are 



