AVILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



almost exclusively on seeds of weeds and grasses; 

 and the members of a large proportion of other 

 families depend somewhat for their daily supply 

 on this sort of food. Under the universal shade 

 of trees weeds can grow only sparingly, and on 

 prairies the crop is often killed by drought or is 

 burned in the autumn; but the cultivation of im- 

 mense fields of grain and hay, and the making of 

 broad pastures and half-worn roads, which almost 

 immediately become filled with weeds, have fur- 

 nished the birds with an inexhaustible and un- 

 failing harvest. 



Birds suffer much harm from many quadrupeds 

 — foxes, weasels, skunks, rats, etc. — which catch 

 them on their roosts, suck their eggs, and kill their 

 fledglings. Snakes also are fond of them, and 

 destroy many nests every season — in early sum- 

 mer subsisting almost alone on eggs. All these 

 animals, particularly foxes, skunks, and serpents, 

 are greatly reduced in number by settlements, al- 

 though it must be confessed that their absence is 

 somewhat compensated for by the introduction of 

 domestic cats, which go foraging through the woods, 

 to the grief of all their feathered inhabitants. No 

 longer in fear of their natural enemies, and learn- 

 ing that there is little reason to be apprehensive 



206 



