194 



INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



" Just consider for one moment the helplessness of man 

 before an advance of a plague of grasshoppers. Day by day 

 the young hoppers issue from their breeding grounds, and 

 in countless numbers make their way over the country, on 

 foot or by flight, eating every green thing. To-day the 

 country is flourishing ; to-morrow the plague passes by, 



Mi:-,: 



Fig. 44. Nest and 



of Crow. One-sixth natural size. 



leaving desolation, and often ruin, in its path. One who 

 has not experienced it cannot imagine the feeling of utter 

 gloom wrought by such a visitation. Nothing will avail 

 against it. All the scientiGc^experts in the country may 

 tire insecticides by the ton into such a mass without any 



