204 



LIVING CREATURES. 



buds, and fruit of peach, pear, plum, cherry, apple, 

 and grape. Fifty of them have been counted on a 

 single shock of farmer's grain. 



They kill and drive away useful birds and sweet sing- 

 ers ; so that, in place of the inoffensive and musical 

 wren, robin, and song-sparrow, we have the plunder 

 and creech-creech of the house-sparrow. Besides mak- 

 ing war upon our pretty home birds, they refuse to do 

 the useful work of these birds. The tussock caterpil- 

 lar, that devours the 

 foliage of nearly every 

 tree, is so covered with 

 sharp bristles that most 

 birds will not touch it. 

 But the oriole, the rob- 

 in, and the cuckoos at- 

 tack it, and the yellow- 

 billed cuckoo even 

 shears the bristles of 

 the worm before swal- 

 lowing it. The armies 

 of our little ruffians, however, drive away the robins 

 and the cuckoos, and leave our trees to the mercy of 

 the caterpillars. They will not work for us, nor will 

 they allow our old friends to work for us. 



As fighters, they have no equals among small birds. 

 One alone is weak, but many together are strong. 

 When one gets into trouble he calls a regiment to help 

 him. In one instance, they are reported to have killed 

 a cat. But they make good pot-pies. Let us then 

 rise and eat the sparrow nation, or the sparrow nation 

 may grow strong enough to eat us. 



Song->sparrow. 



