FRIENDLY RELATIONS. 149 



affords by its sweet song and lively motions, he would be 

 found far more beneficial than hurtful to man. Here now 

 is a case in point 



A few years ago, tlie Blackbirds in the northern part of the State 

 of Indiana were considered a grievous nuisance to the farmer. 

 Whole fields of oats were sometimes destroyed, and the depredations 

 upon the late corn were greater than can be believed, if told. The 

 farmer sowed and the birds reaped. He scolded and they twittered. 

 Occasionally a charge of shot brought down a score, but made no 

 more impression upon the great sea of birds than the removal of a 

 single bucket of water from the great salt puddle. A few years 

 later every green thing on the land seemed destined to destruction 

 by the army worm. Man was powerless a worm among worms. 

 But his best friends, the hated Blackbirds, came to his relief just in 

 time to save when all seemed lost. No human aid could have 

 helped him. How thankful should man be that Grod has given him 

 for his companions and fellow-labourers, in the cultivation of the 

 earth, these lovely birds ! ' The labourer is worthy of his hire.' 

 Why should we grudge the little moiety claimed by the busy little 

 fellows which followed the plough, and snatched away the worm 

 from the seed that it might produce grain for his and our subsist- 

 ence? * No honest man would cheat a bird out of its summer's 

 work.' 



It is well known that Blackbirds and Thrushes will fre- 

 quently build in close proximity to each other, and it 

 is even said that sometimes there is an union of the two 

 species ; an instance of this is recorded in a local paper, in 

 these words : i There is at present over the drawing-room 

 window, at Casterton parsonage, near Kirkby Lonsdale, 

 where Mr. W. W. C. Wilson, jun., is residing, a nest 

 built by a Blackbird and a Thrush, which have paired 

 together, containing one bird which resembles both species. 

 It has been placed in a cage close to the nest, and both of 

 the parent birds may constantly be seen feeding it through 

 the wires of the cage. 7 



The folio wing anecdote may be likewise given as illus- 

 trative of the friendly relations which often exist between 

 these two birds ; we take it from a paper named l The 

 Scotsman :' 



BATTLE EXTRAORDINARY. Yesterday week a Blackbird and a 

 Thrush were observed fighting most courageously with a large tom- 

 cat, which belongs to a family in Newington. Their mode of attack 



