282 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



rid the fields and woods of innumerable squirrels, moles and 

 field mice. The last are frequently great depredators upon 

 the crops, after having exhausted the stores of worms and 

 insects which they first invariably devour, and to this ex- 

 tent these little quadrupeds are themselves benefactors. The 

 smaller species of the hawk and owl, when pressed by 

 hunger, will resort to grubs, beetles, crickets and grass- 

 hoppers, in the absence of larger game. That loathsome 

 monster the bat, in its hobgoblin flight, destroys his bulk of 

 flies in a single night. Slight injury may occasionally be 

 done to the grain and fruit by the smaller birds, and when 

 thus intrusive, some temporary precaution will suffice to 

 prevent much loss. But whatever loss may thus occur, the 

 balance of benefit to the farmer from their presence, is 

 generally in their favor ; and instead of driving them from 

 his grounds, he should encourage their social, chatty visits by 

 kind and gentle treatment, and by providing trees and 

 pleasant shrubbery for their accommodation. 



TOADS, FROGS, &c. 



Shakspeare has said, 



The toad, ugly and venomous, 

 Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. 



Deducting the venom we shall find the poet right ; for we 

 can no more attempt the defence of his beauty, than that of 

 the muck heap ; but we can well excuse his unprepossessing 

 exterior, for the sake of the jewel which he wears in his 

 tongue. This, like that of the chamelion, of which he is a 

 cousin-german, he darts out with lightning rapidity, and 

 clasps the worm or insect prey within its glutinous folds, 

 which, with equal rapidity, is transformed to his capacious 

 maw. Apparently dull, squat, and of the soil's hue, what- 

 ever that may be ; he sits quiet and meditative, yet watchful 

 in the thick shade of some overgrown cabbage ; and as the 

 careless insects buzz by, or the grub or beetle crawl lazily 

 along, unheedful of danger, he loads his aldermanic carcass 

 with the savory repast. Sixteen fresh beetles, a pile equal 

 to his fasting bulk, have been found in the stomach of a 

 single toad. 



The frog, traipsing over the wet fields, amid the long 

 grass or thick Weeds, procures his summer subsistence in 

 the same way as his seeming congener the toad, and with 

 equal benefit to the farmer. 



