STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 153 



to your satisfaction. But if in that inspired discussion you 

 should be anxious to find out which side of 'the fence' I am on, 

 perhaps I should exclaim with Thoreau: 'Bless the Lord, O 

 my soul! bless Him for wildness; bless Him for crows that won't 

 alight within gunshot!' Apropos of the English sparrow 

 question, I might suggest that the Almighty created him — 

 though not in America; this, in all seriousness, for I cannot now 

 consider the English sparrow a joking matter. "Do you think 

 the English sparrow has driven our native birds away?' is the 

 question a bird student meets everywhere. The questioner 

 thinks affirmatively — that all our birds have been driven away. 

 The fact is, this person never sees or hears birds anyway, and 

 would scarcely know whether they went or staid. Perhaps as 

 he came along the suburban street this very morning (in May), 

 he passed a rose-breasted grosbeak, an oriole, a yellow warbler, 

 and a red-eyed vireo. Ah, yes, we have about us, in unexpected 

 places, a wealth of bird-life. If everybody knew this, and 

 appreciated it, we might be still more blessed as the years go on, 

 for then everybody would contrive to keep natural shelter and 

 food for the birds, and the birds would pay their board and 

 lodging with interest." 



After these, introductory remarks, by means of stereopticon 

 pictures of New England scenery and birds, the audience en- 

 joyed a series of spring and summer bird-hunting strolls. First, 

 along an April road, a flock of crow-blackbirds were found, 

 creaking and chucking in the tops of tall oaks. This bird, 

 said the lecturer, bears an unpleasant reputation among growers 

 of corn and fruit, and yet he is distinctly an insectivorous bird, 

 and eminent authorities who have dissected hundreds of them, at 

 all times of the year, find only trifling evidence of vegetable diet. 

 Their case is precisely that of the robin. They are so gregarious 

 and so numerous, that no ill-doing on their part escapes observa- 

 tion. If any one is inclined to shoot either of these birds, he 

 should not do so before looking over such unbiased reports as 

 those found in B. H. Warren's "Birds of Pennsylvania." 



The bluebird's warble came from over the fields, very plainly 

 suggested by the speaker's imitation, and the old favorite, in 

 glowing plumage, was seen sitting on a fence-post. Here is a 

 bird of whose usefulness there is never a question. Will not 



