238 



Birds — Canker Worms. 



Vol. IV. 



vent to their sorrow, a boy passed with his 

 gun, fired, and brought them both to the 

 ground and carried them away in triumph : 

 luckily for the boy, I did not witness the bar- 

 barous deed, but it was noted by one of the 

 family and soon reported to me. As I had 

 become somewhat interested in the unfortn 

 nate orphan, I proposed to my children that 

 they should feed it with worms until it could 

 take care of itself, and accordingly placed it 

 in a pen under the tree and returned to my 

 work near by. It was not long before I heard 

 from the young bird its peculiar note which 

 it uttered when its parent brought food, and 

 on looking up, saw that it had hopped up on 

 to a joist to which the board fence was fast- 

 ened, and to my great delight and surprise, 

 beheld a blue-bird in the act of feeding it. 

 That beautiful passage of scripture flashed 

 upon my mind — " Are not five sparrows sold 

 for two farthings ? and not one of them is 

 forgotten before God." My curiosity was 

 Jiow raised to see what would be the issue, 

 and I soon found that any further care on my 

 part would be superfluous, for the young chap 

 had fallen into better hands. It was with the 

 deepest interest I watched the movements 

 of this devoted pair of blue-birds to their 

 adopted one, for it appeared that both male 

 and female had taken part in tliis work of 

 disinterested benevolence, and devoted them- 

 selves with unremitting attention to its wants, 

 until it was able to take care of itself For a 

 couple of days it remained near the spot 

 where I first saw tlie birds feeding it, and 

 being near a window, had a good opportunity 

 to see how things went on between them. 

 It appeared that the young one kept his bene- 

 factors pretty busy; for their incessant la- 

 bours could hardly satisfy the young gorman- 

 dizer, as upon an estimate, atler much atten- 

 tion, he received a portion of food every two 

 and a half minutes during the day, which ap- 

 peared to consist of worms and grubs. The 

 black-bird probably weighed twice as much 

 as both blue-birds, and when it opened its ca- 



it fell in company with some of its own kith 

 and kin, and I could recognise it no more. 

 Whether it ever returned to express its grati- 

 tude to its foster parents, we have never 

 learned. 



Many of my neighbours could testify to the 

 above facts, as some of them called daily to 

 see for themselves. J. B. 



From the Boston Courier. 

 Birds-mCanker Worms* 



pacious mouth to receive the food, it seem 

 «is though its kind friends were in imminent 

 danger of being swallowed whole. The 

 blue-birds appeared alternately with the food 

 and lit down a few feet in front of the bird on 

 the fence, and viewed with apparent astonish- 

 ment, the extended mouth of the young one 

 for a second, then hopping up, deposited the 

 food, then as quick back to the first position, 

 regarding for another second with marks of 

 satisfaction, the object of charity, and then 

 away for a new supply. 



In a few days the young bird found the use 

 of its wings, and was followed from tree to 

 tree upon the premises by its faithful pro- 

 viders, for nearly a week: it had by that 

 time learned to find its own food ; and soon I 



Mr. Editor — I see it stated in your paper 

 of Friday, that the probable reason why the 

 canker-worm commits small ravages in ' Flob,' 

 is found in the care with which the birds are 

 protected. I was reminded of a remark in 

 Peabody's Life of Wilson : " He enters into 

 a deliberate calculation of the exact value of 

 the services of the red-winged black-bird, 

 which certainly bears no good reputation on 

 the farm ; showing that, allowing a single 

 bird fifty insects in a day, which would be 

 short allowance, a single pair would consume 

 12,000 in four months ; and if there are a 

 million of pairs of these birds in the United 

 States, the amount of insects is less by twelve 

 thousand millions, than if the red-wing were 

 exterminated." Let any one during the 

 brooding season of robins or of other birds, 

 rise by break of day and count the number of 

 times old ones return in one hour with worms 

 and insects, or, if he can, let iiim count 

 through the day, and the number will be 

 found to be almost incredible. 



The practice of killing birds for mere 

 amusement, is not merely indicative of cruel- 

 ty and want of feeling, but is exceedingly 

 detrimental to the interests of the communi- 

 ty. If the farmers reflected and made calcu- 

 lations upon the subject, they would dis- 

 courage and oppose it as one of the greatest 

 scourges, and would pay a premium to their 

 boys to let the birds alone, rather than furnish 

 them with powder and shot to kill them. 



And, now that I am upon the subject of in- 

 sects and worms, let me add that there is a 

 very unreasonable prejudice against toads. 

 They are exceedingly valuable in gardens 

 and other places, in consequence of the ex- 

 terminating warfare they are continually 

 waging against the bugs and worms. Any 

 person who has them in his garden has a 

 treasure there ; and if he will watch them 

 closely, he will find them accomplishing more 

 in the way of preserving his squash and cu- 

 cumber vines, and other vegetables, than he 

 can do with all Jiis troughs of liquid. 



S. Y. 



Small evils make the worst part of great 

 ones ; it is so much easier to endure misfor- 

 tune than to bear ao inconvenience. 



