THE MULTIPLICA TION OF INSECTS. 59 



season. In winter a multitude of birds, urged by hunger, diligently 

 search the branches of trees for the eggs of many sorts of moths that 

 are glued to them, and which yield a scanty sustenance to many of these 

 animals. Keaumur states that the greenfinch tears open the strong 

 nest of the yellowtail-moths (Bombyx chrysorrhcea), and consumes 

 the young caterpillars. 



Among the birds of the woodpecker race, the green and red wood- 

 peckers (Picus viridis and major), the nut-hatch (Sitta csesia), and 

 the tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris), may be considered the most use- 

 ful. Although these birds seek beetles chiefly, and consequently con- 

 tribute to the diminution of the long-horned and weevil tribes ot 

 beetles, they also consume a number of caterpillars. 



Among birds of the sparrow tribe, the starling deserves particular 

 notice. It lives in summer chiefly in pastures, but comes in spring and 

 autumn in large flocks to the meadows and orchards, where it devours 

 a great number of insects, pupa3, and larvae. The chaffinch is a deter- 

 mined consumer of caterpillars' and moths' eggs. The titmice are 

 particularly useful viz., the oxeye and tomtit ; then the redbreast 

 and redstart, and also the wagtails. 



The cuckoo also particularly deserves to be spared ; it not only 

 devours many of the smaller smooth-skinned Iarva3, but even con- 

 sumes the hairy caterpillars of many moths, particularly of the Bomby- 

 cida?. On examining the intestines of a cuckoo, in the month of Sep- 

 tember, Kollar found therein, besides the remains of various insects, a 

 great quantity of the skins of the caterpillar of the large Bombyx pini, 

 which is one of the largest European species, and has very stiff hair. 

 The inner coat of the stomach was entirely covered with hair, but a 

 close inspection with the magnifying glass showed that the hair was 

 not the hair of the stomach of the cuckoo, as some ornithologists sup- 

 pose, but only the hair of the caterpillars. This bird may therefore be 

 of very essential service when there is a superfluity of the caterpillars 

 of the lackey or processionary moths (Bombyx neustria or proces- 

 sionea). 



It is sufficiently known that great service is rendered by the whole 

 race of crows to meadows and fields. Their favourite food consists of 

 the larvae of the cockchafer, which are thrown up by the plough, and 

 which they also draw out of the earth with their strong beaks. It is a 

 wonderful provision of nature, that exactly at the time that the insects 

 injurious from their great numbers appear, the greatest number of the 

 insectivorous birds have hatched their broods, and their voracious 

 young are ready to be fed upon them. 



Insectivorous birds are also sometimes granivorous, and feast 

 readily on our fruit, particularly cherries ; but the injury they cause 

 in this respect is not to be compared to the use they are of in destroy- 

 ing insects. 



Among amphibious animals which destroy insects, lizards hold a 

 conspicuous place. Grasshoppers are the favourite food of many 

 species. Frogs and toads also devour many insects. 



Besides mammalia, birds, and amphibious animals, Nature, to 



