7° 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



at their service by science or empiricism, 

 could drive away or destroy the devasta- 

 tors of their fields and save their produce. 

 But it was finally seen that it is very dif- 

 ficult, if not impossible, to secure the ne- 

 cessary united action from all the cultiva- 

 tors of a country. In nearly every case it 

 became evident that the vi^ar waged by man 

 against insects is a most unequal one ; be- 

 cause they have on their side the advan- 

 tages of numbers, minuteness, agility, 

 nocturnal habits, means of concealment, 

 and often a prodigious fecundity. Conse- 

 quently, under the burden of an impotence 

 more and more apparent, men have felt 

 the need of seeking elsewhere the relief 

 they did not find within themselves. Thus, 

 very naturally, they thought of the birds. 

 They noticed that the number of birds 

 seemed to be diminishing, — doubtless be- 

 cause of the relentless pursuit to which 

 they were subjected ; and they declared 

 that the number of injurious insects had 

 notably increased, since their ravages be- 

 came more and more conspicuous, — a fact 

 which I attribute to the extension of agri- 

 culture, to the increase of certain cultures 

 — especially artificial and natural meadows 

 — to various causes difficult to appreciate, 

 and finally to a greater tendency to the 

 observation of facts. Men saw a neces- 

 sary connection between these two ideas, 

 and said, " Insects are increasing because 

 birds are diminishing ; then we will pro- 

 tect ourselves against the former by pro- 

 tecting the latter." 



Men of authority in agricultural science 

 gave currency to this idea ; it was corrob- 

 orated by an honorable savant, M. Florent 

 Prevost, connected with the Paris Museum 

 of Natural History, who demonstrated, by 

 dissecting the stomachs of birds, that many 

 of these creatures live upon insects ; and 

 from all sides, even from highly intelligent 

 men, even from the midst of the gravest 

 scientific societies, — those least subject to 

 impulse — the cry arose, " Protect the birds, 

 destroyers of no.\ious insects and bene- 

 factors of agriculture ! " 



Thus this clamor has arisen and ex- 

 panded, increased by multitudinous echoes, 



and given origin to numbers of books and 

 memoirs, in which it is related that the 

 Chaffinch eats caterpillars, that the Sparrow 

 consumes cockchafers, that the Goat-sucker 

 devours night-moths, and that the Nightin- 

 gale catches flies. 



In the midst of this concert, the harmony 

 of which nothing has yet come to trouble, 

 may I dare to raise a discordant voice ? 

 I decide to do this, encouraged not by a 

 presumption which is very far from my 

 character, but by considerations which, it 

 seems to me, are not without some value. 



In the first place, I believe that I have 

 one advantage over those whose opinions 

 I oppose, which I mention, not through 

 vanity, but because I am compelled to 

 state it in order to secure some confidence ; 

 it is that, addicted passionately, for more 

 than thirty-five years, to the study of natu- 

 ral history, I find myself acquainted not 

 only with the habits and mode of life of 

 the birds of my country, but also with the 

 habits of insects, which have been the fa- 

 vorite object of my studies. 



This double knowledge is indispensable 

 to enable one intelligently to appreciate 

 the relations which exist between birds and 

 no.\ious insects ; for the question is not 

 whether birds eat insects — that is a 

 fact of general notoriety,^ — but whether or 

 not they destroy many harmful insects. 

 Now M. Florent Prevost himself, although 

 so generally deferred to in this matter, and 

 so worthy of deference when he treats of 

 birds, is powerless to solve the capital 

 ijuestion which I have just asked, because 

 he is not acquainted with entomology. 

 When, for my own enlightenment, I ap- 

 plied to him for information on this sub- 

 ject, giving my reasons for attaching great 

 importance to it, he maintained a silence 

 which a common friend explained as due 

 to his embarrassment. 



In the second place, I have devoted my- 

 self, for a good many years, to quite care- 

 ful observation, and have collected a 

 sufficient number of decisive and incon- 

 testable facts to warrant me in forming an 

 opinion and to assure me that I am in a 

 condition to justify it. 



