266 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



Birds arc warm-bloocled vertebrate animals clothed with feathers ; they are 

 invariably oviparous — that is, the young are hatched from eggs by the action 

 of heat imparted from the body of the parent bird. 



Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrate animals; they are oviparous, the young 

 being hatched by the heat of the sun. 



Insects are those articulate animals which undergo changes, called metamor- 

 phoses, before the perfect animal is formed ; these changes are three in num- 

 ber after tlie eggs are laid : first, the caterpillar stage ; second, the pupa stage ; 

 and after these the imago or pei'fect insect stage. 



The study of the first class is called mammalogy ; that of the second, orni- 

 thology ; the third, herpetology; and that of insects entomology. 



The study of entomology is undoubtedly of the greatest importance to the 

 agriculturist, but the present paper will not treat of it otherwise than in a 

 general description of the characteristics of the different orders, and incidentally 

 in the enumeration of destructive species which furnish food for some of the 

 mammals and birds. Herpetology is of but little importance to the farmer, as 

 we have but few species of reptiles, most of which are, however, beneficial. 



The present paper is designed not so much to add new facts to the knowl- 

 edge of our mammalogy and ornithology, but to emphatically reiterate import- 

 ant facts and observations in these departments for the benefit of the agricul- 

 turist ; the object being to impress upon his mind the fact that nature furnishes 

 powerful assistants to his labors, and to show him the manner in which they 

 operate. 



Beginning with the great class mammalia, we find it divided by naturalists 

 into different classes called orders, each of which is distinguished by peculi- 

 arities in structure, habits, and food. Those orders indigenous to this country 

 among the terrestrial mammalia of importance to the agriculturist, either as 

 beneficial or injurious, are: Cheiroptera, (the bats;) Insectivora, (the insect 

 devouring animals ;) Carnivora, (the tiesh devouring animals ;) Rodentia, (gnaw- 

 ing animals;) Marsupiata, (pouched animals ;) and Ruminantia, (animals which 

 chew the cud.) Of these animals the Cheiroptera, Insectivora, and Carnivora 

 are beneficial; the Rodentia are generally injurious ; and the Ruminantia are 

 valuable only as food, and are (to a slight extent) injurious in the wild state. 



CHEIROPTERA. 



In this order are included those animals known as the bats ; there are sev- 

 eral species in the United States, all *©f which can be properly included in the 

 family vcspertilionidcB, the characteristics of which are an excessive prolonga- 

 tion of the fingers of the anterior extremities, which are connected together, 

 and with the posterior extremities, which are connected with the tail by a thin, 

 semi-transparent, generally naked membrane, which enables them to fly. Their 

 food, which they almost always capture in the night, (as the habits of the 

 animals are strictly nocturnal,) consists entirely of insects, chiefly nocturnal 

 lepidoptera, which they seize while on the wing. The ni\mber of these nox- 

 ious insects which they destroy is immense ; and this fact, together with their 

 harmless dispositions and habits, establishes them as valuable friends to the 

 farmer, who should encourage them to take up their abode on his premises, 

 and protect them as much as possible. At the approach of cold weather, the 

 bats seek convenient quarters in caves, hollow trees, and buildings, where they 

 remain torpid until spring, suspended by the sharp hooked claws of their feet. 



INSECTIVORA. 



Of this large and important order we have many representatives included in 

 the two f^imilies, Soricid<T, (shrews,) and Talpida:, (moles.) The shrews may 

 readily be distinguished by their mouse-like form, long and pointed head, di- 



