942 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



were placed first, so now perfectness of structure and superiority of intelligence have caused 



the Carrion Crow and Robber Eagle to &quot;step down and out,&quot; so to speak, while the well. 



known Robin, the head of the Thrush 



family, assumes the head of the tribe, and 



is soon followed by the more intelligent of 



the Insessores. As the group now stands 



we have the following three classes, and 



eleven orders: 



CLASS IST. (Aves Aerece). Birds? 



spending most of their time above the 



earth, among the branches of the trees 



in the air, so to speak, comprising: 



ORDER 1. Passeres, orPerchers. Order 



2. Picarise, or Woodpecker-like Birds. 



Order 3. Psittaci, or Parrots. Order 4. 



Raptores, or Birds of Prey. Order 5. 



Columbaa, or Pigeon -like Birds. 



CLASS 2o. (Aves Terrestres). Birds 

 spending most of their time on the earth, 

 seldom lighting or remaining on trees: 



ORDER 6. Gallin8e,or Runners, Scratch, 

 ers, and the like. Order 7. G-rallatores, 

 or Waders. 



CLASS SD. (Aves Aquaticoe). Birds 

 that swim in the water: 



ORDER 8. Lamellirostres, Ducks, etc. 

 Order 9. Steganopodes, Pelicans, etc. 

 Order 10. Longipennes, Gulls, etc. Order 

 11. Pygopodes, Diving Birds. 



The system of which these eleven 

 orders form the basis, especially of North 

 American Birds, though there are very 

 few changes to be made to have the sys 

 tem answer for birds everywhere through 

 out the world, proves one of the most 

 simple and most expressive of the real 

 position held by this family in nature of 

 any yet devised. It is only those extreme 

 ornithologists, who strive to render diffi 

 cult that which they should render easy, 



Whose innovations We have to dread.&quot; SPARROW-HAWK. Tinnunculm Sparverius (Raptores). 



Relative Fertility of Birds and Insects. In the treatment of this subject and 

 those connected with it in relation to insect-eating birds, we are 

 largely indebted to Mr. F. H. Palmer, of Massachusetts, from 

 whose excellent discussion of this topic we make the following 

 extract: By studying the habits of birds and insects, we may 

 easily discover the important part which each plays in the 

 economy of nature; and history itself proves that any interfer 

 ence with their relations to each other is sure to be followed by 

 disastrous results. Hence, the subject becomes of deepest 

 importance, not alone to the agriculturist, but to every one who 

 has a business or patriotic interest in our country. Nature, if 

 left to herself, establishes a wholesome balance amongst her 

 creatures; that is, she produces no more of one species than 

 shall be kept in check by another. If there is an insect which 

 feeds upon a certain plant, there is also a bird which destroys 

 the insect, and an animal which devours the bird ; and so on up 

 the scale, each curbing the undue increase of the next inferior 

 creature. It is when man interferes with the working of this 

 law that results are sure to follow disastrous alike to his own 



BOBOLINK. (DolMronyx oryzivarus). v d ^f ^ ^ ha PP? OSS and that of the creatures around 



mm. It is because he has destroyed their natural enemies that 



