31 6 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



has received its full share of praise from casual 

 observers, but we confessedly cannot bear the 

 best of testimony to its usefulness; and as it is not 

 as destructive to obnoxious insects as the most of 

 our smaller birds, its presence is not necessary. It 

 is true that during the breeding-season it destroys 

 many caterpillars for the support of its young, but 

 this good is more than outweighed by the mischief 

 which it commits. Its seeming hate of our own 

 birds, combined with the depredations which are 

 perpetrated upon the tender buds of herbaceous 

 plants, shrubs, and trees; the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of the blossoms of the apple, pear, and cherry, 

 and the fruits of the same in the spring, with the 

 wanton devastation which it commits upon the 

 vines when the grapes are mellowing, are power- 

 ful incentives for those who have suffered from 

 their ravages, to urge the authorities to colonize 

 and send them back to England [where the 

 peasantry are paid for potting them into sparrow- 

 pies. They are always feeding, but unlike most 

 species grow corpulent upon what they pilfer, and 

 'thus set the unwholesome example of consuming 

 what they do not earn. 



By Dr. Brewer it has been affirmed that the 

 male birds are only pugnacious when actuated by 

 amatory influences. Our experience during the 

 past season shows that the same ugly spirit is 

 manifested even at other periods. On our premi- 

 ses the birds are so numerous and so daring, that 

 they will assemble in the poultry-yard while the 



