The Birds' Calendar 



aversion to the robin is quite discredited, and 

 his general popularity more than ever justified ; 

 so that it is no exaggeration to say that this 

 most familiar friend of man is in a peculiar 

 sense a sort of guardian angel of the soil. 



Less conspicuous than the robin in its utility, 

 but of inestimable service throughout all the 

 woods, is our little friend, the festive chicka- 

 dee, which presents a very practical claim upon 

 our admiration in the fact that, from a series of 

 careful observations once made at Paris, it has 

 been estimated that a single specimen of this 

 species, at the lowest computation, destroys 

 annually two hundred thousand eggs alone of 

 noxious insects. By what a fairy force of labor- 

 ers is the imminent destruction of our forests 

 stayed. 



286 



