THK CANADIW IlOimi tM. I T KTST. 



129 



other insectivorous birds, as if they liud 

 been their greatest enemies. In one 

 instance a mob of people were so enraged 

 against one of the land owners who h;id 

 a rookery in his grounds, that they 

 went to his house in a body, dragged 

 him forth and hanged him on a branch 

 of a tree, after which they shot his i-ooks 

 in triumph. The pcoi'er way to have 

 delivered their tields from the grubs 

 which ravaged them, would have been 

 to encourage i-ather than liave killed 

 the rooks, and have thaidced the owner. 



If every rook's nest in this land were 

 pulled to pieces to-morrow, there is no 

 doubt that you would all wish them in 

 their places again, and well tilled too, 

 before this time next year. 



Next bird, a swallow. He had no 

 trace of fruit or any kind of vegetable 

 substance in his crop, nothing but flies 

 and gnats in very great nuuibers, which, 

 if they had been suffered to live, would 

 have given birth to thousands of otiiers. 

 Indeed, if there were no swallows or 

 other small birds to kill gnats for us. 

 We siiould soon be as badly off as the 

 Egyptians were when God sent "'all 

 manner of flies " upon them for their 

 sir\s. Among the flies found in the 

 swallow's crop ai-e some of the tipulte 

 kind — "'daddy long legs" some call 

 them. These creatures de]>osit their 

 eggs in great numbers under the soil, 

 and are there hatched and [)roduce 

 lai'vaj in the form of elongated worms, 

 having horn.s, with which they cut and 

 bruise their food, whicli is the til)res of 

 the roots of cereals, such as wheat and 

 Ij u ley. They also do considerable mis- 

 chief l>y disturbing the soil and exposing 

 the sprouting seed to tlie sun. There- 

 fore, we should \)e tlianktul to the 

 swallows for destioying the flies before 

 they give birth to th-.se pests. 



Next bird, a hlackbinl. His crop 

 was full, and there an; some triices of 

 fruit and berries in it, but it contains 



chief! V c;iteri)inars. It is the same 

 with nearly all the small birds, they 

 will not refuse fruits, Imt they also feed 

 largely u[)on insects ; if they do some 

 injury by theii- ovvn de])redations, they 

 do a great deal more good by destioying 

 other enemies. The celebrated writer 

 and naturalist, Mr. Bree, wi-ites : — 



" In the month of August, I was 

 struck with the rather unusually large 

 assemblage of blackbii-ds which fre- 

 quented my garden Eight or ten 

 were usually to be seen together, and 

 one morning I counted at the same time 

 thirteen, hopping about and chattering 

 on the grass-plot before the house. 

 They usually paid their visits at eight 

 in the morning ; they continued to 

 arrest my attention for ten days or a 

 t rtnigiit. The birds directed their 

 operations more especifdl}' to ]>articular 

 spots on the grass-j)lot, which they 

 stocked up with their bills, till the turf, 

 which had changed colour, and was sup- 

 posed to lie dying, became almost bare 

 in ]>atcl!es, and was quite disfigured by 

 the refuse roots of gi'ass, etc., which 

 they left littci-eil on the surface. In- 

 deed, such was the rough and unsightly 

 appearance which the grass-plot ]>re- 

 sented in consequence, that hints were 

 thrown out that the blackbiixls ought 

 to be destroyed, for they had repeaterlly 

 been seen in the very act of ilistiguring 

 the turf", and the whole mischief was, 

 of course, from first to last, attri1)uted 

 to them. 



"8usp'^cting what might be the object 

 of the birds' research. I turned u]) a 

 ])iece of the earth with a spade, and 

 found it swarming with cockchafer 

 grubs of various sizes, and this circum- 

 stance conflrmed my sus|>icion that it 

 was for the purpose of feeding upon 

 these larvae that the blackbirds had 

 made such havoc of the grass-plot. 

 They ])ei-formed, shortly in this case, 

 precisely the same service, by destroy- 



