THE SONG-SPARROW. 57 



taste of wheat and barley. When we get into a 

 habit of thinking evil of anybody, it is hard to 

 quit. Farmers have fallen into the habit of 

 thinking evil of the sparrows and of calling them 

 hard names. But the birds keep on doing a good 

 turn for those same farmers, and waiting until 

 they are better understood. 



A person who spends his time finding out 

 things about birds watched a pair of sparrows a 

 whole day, just to be sure they are useful birds. 

 He counted carefully, and discovered that the old 

 birds fed exactly forty grubs an hour to the 

 young ones in the nest. Now, what are grubs, 

 that sparrows should hunt forty of them an hour 

 for baby-food? They are the young of beetles. 

 We have many harmful beetles, that do much 

 mischief to our trees and vegetables. Their 

 young ones are wrapped up in little bundles, and 

 live for a while in the moist ground under the 

 trees, where the mulching is loose and rich. We 

 call these young beetles "grubs." It is these fat 

 little grubs the song-sparrows are after when you 

 see them scratching and pecking away in the 

 shade after you have irrigated the orchard. If 

 you watch closely, you will see the birds pick up 

 more than a mouthful, and the little insects will 

 drop out of the corners of the birds' beaks. 



