FEBRUARY. 69 



ported that the birds, instead of proving beneficial, would be 

 highly detrimental to the country. On the part of the birds 

 it was argued, that they raked in the new-plowed grounds, 

 not for the sake of the grain, but for the insects, and were 

 therefore beneficial. They were, however, proscribed by 

 the council, and in the space of two hours, after the sentence 

 was passed against them, not a grackie was to be found in 

 the island. This prompt execution was followed by a speedy 

 repentance. The locusts gained the ascendancy, and the 

 people who only viewed the present, regretted the loss of the 

 grackie s. In a few years afterwards, a few pairs were again 

 introduced ; their preservation and breeding were made a 

 State affair ; the laws held out protection to them, and the 

 physicians, on their part, declared their flesh to be unwhole- 

 some. The grackles accordingly multiplied, and the locusts 

 were destroyed." 



When the larvae of insects penetrate the wood of trees, 

 they are beyond the reach of all birds except the woodpeck- 

 ers. These birds have a long tongue of great flexibility, and 

 a very powerful beak. They possess also a peculiar instinct 

 that directs them how to discover their prey, without the use 

 of their sight. By the opposite arrangement of their fore 

 and hind claws, they are enabled to climb the branches of 

 trees in all directions in search of their prey. On discovering 

 its retreat they bore a hole with their strong beaks, and draw 

 out the insect with their long tongues. The old birds are 

 said to teach their young the art of hunting these vermin, 

 and nature has rendered them easy learners of the art. 



We learn from an old Monthly Review, that in the year 

 1798, the forests of Saxony and Brandenburgh were attacked 

 with a general mortality. The greater part of the trees, especial- 

 ly the firs and difl"erent kinds of pine, whose bitter and aro- 

 matic branches are rarely the prey of insects, died, as if struck 

 at their roots by some secret malady. It was not here, as 

 often happens, that their foliage was devoured by caterpillars. 

 The trees perished without showing any signs of external in- 

 jury. This calamity became so general that the regency of 

 Saxony sent naturalists and skilful foresters to find out the 



