lOG 



THE PARMER'S MONPTHLy VISITOR. 



taliing frequently half and sometijnes seven-eighths 

 of the stalks of corn. Wc have been very much 

 inclined to think the cause of the greater preva- 

 lence of worms and mischievous insects to be the 

 wanton destruction wliich man lias made in the 

 feathered tribe that in its turn destroys myriads of 

 tlie creatures, only one of which, unperceived until 

 the act is consummated, may annihilate much of 

 of the sustenance of man. 



In the two last numbers of the Visitor we had 

 written ourselves and inserted communications 

 from others relative to this matter of the destruc- 

 tion of birds. We were confident that what oth- 

 ers and ourselves were doing on this head would at 

 once be responded by the public sentiment. As 

 evidence that we were under no mistake, it may be 

 mentioned that on our very first attendance upon 

 the General Court to listen to its proceedings, a 

 bill was reported as for -a third reading in the House 

 of Represtntatives, authorizing towns of this State 

 to pass a by-law imposing a fine not to exceed three 

 dollars for eacii wanton act of sliooting one of 

 these useful birds, one of such kind or kinds of 

 birds as a majority of tlie citizens of any town might 

 believe to be useful. The same bill on a subse- 

 quent day passed the House of Representatives : 

 its fate in the Senate, up to the time of writing 

 tb.is article, we have not ascertained. 



Now althougli we feel highly grateful for the 

 compliment paid to the editor and writers for the 

 Farmer's Monthly Visitor by the( introduction of 

 this bill, and although we approve tiie humane in- 

 tentions of its authors towards the feathered tribe 

 — if it should become a law, and that law should 

 be adopted by any town, we fear the consequences 

 for the poor birds which it is the intention of the 

 bill to protect. We fear the wanton bovs, who 

 seemed to have imbibed feelings of compassion for 

 the birds from appeals made to their Iiumanity, 

 will have their spirits moved by the law to buy 

 more powder and shot and kill tlie poor birds where 

 they can find tliem. iSine out of ten would con- 

 eider a law imposing a fine for shooting birds to be 

 an inva.'iion of tlie rigiits of free citizens ; and ma- 

 ny a young m.an, who would otherwise be indiffer- 

 ent about firing a gun, would find means to pro- 

 cure one that he might put at defiance what he con- 

 sidered an unnecessary interference with his voli- 

 tion. There can be no doubt that the odious fifteen 

 gallon law in Massaciiusetts has tempted and is 

 tempting hundreds to find means for it evasion, 

 who, if the law had not existed, would have unit- 

 ed in that e.xcelleni public sentimentwhich througli- 

 out New England has been working wonders for 

 the cause of temperance. 



In regard to tlie wanton sliooting of birds and 

 the hunting nests and destroying eggs, we are con- 

 fident the public sentiment may be corrected wiier- 

 everthe practice has been to shoot them indiscrim- 

 inately and without mercy. We have not studied 

 the subject so as to give each bird its classical de- 

 signation; but for most of the birds in the fields and 

 forests, when quite a boy, we Iiad names: all the 

 common birds, we believe, are known by these 

 names Ihrougliout New England. In the deep for- 

 est torty years agfl| we discovered a kind of bird of 

 beautiful plumage, and most delicate beak and limb, 

 with whioli the gold robin or the native n::ale yel- 

 low bird could hardly be compared : for this little 

 bird seen only single and in pairs, altIion*Th we 

 Wffre never able to find and identify its nest or its 

 eggs, we have ascertained no name — its plumage 

 was of various changeable hues upon a blue 

 groundwork more richly glossed than elegant dam- 

 ask. The birds of beautiful plumage are wilder 

 and more distant than the common birds, some of 

 wliicli are not remarkable either for song or plum- 

 age. There is a bird peculiar to tlie high grounds 

 and hard wood forests of New England, wliose mal- 

 litluent notes near a calm summer evening excel 

 these of any other bird ; wc call this bird the night- 

 ingale, altliough there is no evidence of its being 

 the true designation other than its elevated voice 

 and its superior melody and song at sundown or 

 early evening. The sonorous thrill notes of this 

 little charmer revive the most pleasant and most 

 innocent recollections of early youth, when after 

 af*.iy at school or in the field, we were the little 

 driver of the full-bagged cows from pasture — they 

 charm the air all around, resounding over the vaj- 1 

 ley to_ the adjacent hills. The bird,°perched in the 

 top of some tall oak, or maple, or ash, is generally 

 invisible to the human eye, so that some are led 

 to doubt its identity with a more silent forester 

 seen in the shady glens in the sunshine of mid- 

 day. Tlie spring bird and the ground bird, identi- 

 cal in appearance if not in note, differ in tliis, that 

 the one builds its nest on the ground, the other in 

 tlie thicket : the wren, smaller than these, which 

 can fight off and beat off birds of thrice its size, 



was considered to participate enougli in mischief to 

 be robbed of its eggs in case tliey were wanted for 

 sport on the old 'lection day ; but the liair-l)ird, of 

 the same color and shape and smaller than the 

 ground bird, was too delicate and innocent to be 

 molested either in its bod}' or its nest, by the most 

 cruel boys of that tlay. A few days since, while 

 hoeing in our garden, one of these hair birds a- 

 lighted on the newly stirred ground almost within 

 reach of our arm. We stood still for a few mo- 

 ments : in a little space of time, this little body 

 caught and swallowed not less llian twenty insects 

 which, although not to be readily seen by the nak- 

 ed liuinau eye, were cutting down the tender plants 

 as they came out of the ground, or perforating tlie 

 leaves of other vegetables with numerous holes; 

 at length the little bird in its search seized a large 

 grub in its little beak and flew olF with it either to 

 its young or its mate to share the prize. Contem- 

 plating what this diminutive bird accomplished in 

 so short a period, we were led to r.onjectuie how 

 many fields might be saved by man}' birds of this 

 and a larger size from the destructive worms and in- 

 sects. The common barn-swallow, of which the 

 chimney and bank-swallow and the martin bird are 

 but another kind of the same species, does an im- 

 mense labor of a summer by devouring many times 

 the weight of its body in destructive insects : who 

 knows but these and such as tliese contribute to 

 purify the air by destroying that in the country 

 which is miasma in the cities .' Tlie adage is prob- 

 ably a thousand years old among children, brought 

 down from one to anotlier generation, that if 3'ou 

 kill the swallows, the cows will give bloody milk. 



Our larger play-fellows early taught us to take 

 the black-bird's eggs which were e.ttremely beau- 

 tiful from a delicate sky blue speckled in black, 

 and those of the cat-bird which were of the color 

 of tlic robin's eggs, but a \!ery little smaller in size 

 — also those of the solitary cuckoo, whose nest was 

 found in the darke^-t point of the low woods — also 

 the nest of the king-bird, perched on high, was 

 fair game to be stoned, while to procure the eggs 

 unbroken was out of the question — likewise the 

 blue ja}' and the woodpecker were candidates for 

 annoyance. These birds, with some others, were 

 the subjects for war and reprisal. The black-bird 

 pulled up the corn, and the cat-bird was suspected 

 of that and other sins : besides she had a rsv, when 

 in her worst temper, resembling that of tlie feline 

 species for whom she had been named. Before 

 we were ten years old, having foimd a nest of one 

 of these birds, we purposely left tlie eg^s for an 

 opportunity to attack the old one while sitting up- 

 on them. The nest was a little out of the road on 

 the way to school : soon an opportunity discover- 

 ed itself of the bird upon the nest: — armed with a 

 crab-stick scarcely less potent than that with .which 

 Colman makes his " Duke of Limbs" slay the 

 lecherous fat friar for Sir Thomas Erpingham, we 

 crept to the spot and there with a well directed 

 blow laid poor cat-bird, (nest and all) bleeding and 

 mangled at our feet. Changed, from the fero~cious 

 squall to the song not less charming than the thrush 

 or the mocking bird, as we have many a time list- 

 ened to the melody of the cat-bird, conscience has 

 risen in judgment for the cruel act, to which we 

 had been prompted by the idea that this bird, which 

 in the utmost extent of mischief probably docs ten 

 times the good it does evil, of mangling "and mur- 

 dering an animal which never thouolit, if it ever 

 did harm to the human species. Tlie cuckoo was 

 an object of aversion because she is said to destroy 

 the eggs of the thrush and other birds, takinjT a 

 nest ready made for her own use : just as the em- 

 peror of France and the king of England used to 

 rob Americans of ships and cargoes,~insisting that 

 might gave them the right to appropriate the labors 

 of others to their use. .\11 this may be true of mad- 

 ame cuckoo, and pity 'tis it is true ; but it is to us 

 at least questionalde whether this bird is not more 

 likely to build its own than take the nest of anoth- 

 er bird. The king-bird is also said to be cruel to 

 other birds, and a robber; if ho were all this, his 

 noble bearing towards the ravenous hawk, pounc- 

 ing upon him while seeking his prey, and even 

 forcing him to drop his victimfrom his beak, would 

 atone lor many faults, and urge us to stay his de- 

 struction. The woodpecker, who ha,5 left the im- 

 pression of liis beak in many an orchard — lie mirrlit 

 with impunity do it as he is wont upon the stand- 

 ing dead trees of the forest — what excuse shall be 

 made for him.' We have it at second hand in the 

 fact that the mischief of this bird upon the orchard 

 tree has probably saved its life by extracting hun- 

 dreds and thousands of eggs and w.orii.s which ve- 

 ry likely would have killed the tree whose mutila- 

 tion is the standard of reproach to the bird which 

 has been its salvation. There is a story of tlie dog 

 Beth GeHert, wiio saved the life of au interesting 



child from being torn to pieces by a wolf. The fa- 

 ther, seeing the bloody jaws of the dog who had 

 slain the wolf, supposing he had been the death of 

 the child, gave him his death blow, when the dog 

 had just time left to le:id his enraged master to the , 

 dead wolf with the smiling, loving infant near him, 

 and, with a look and meaning tliat must have wrung 

 tile human heart with anguish, dies. The wound- 

 ed v/oodpecker, shot in tlie act of extricating poi- 

 sonous insects from that forbidden tree which was 

 the procuring cause of many human woes, if not 

 a Beth Gellert, should awaken the heart tosympa- 

 thy. 



We have written an essay almost, hetereogene- 

 ous although it may be, where we first intended to 

 write only a paragrapii. If in this cause — a bleed- 

 ing cauae — we shall save the life of a single inno- 

 cent bird, that bird may be the parent of other 

 birds as countless as the stars of the firmament 

 "which cannot be numbered ;"' and if our humble 

 name shall never go down to future ages as the in- 

 strument of so much good, while we live, we may 

 wrap ourselves up in the conceit that we have, in 

 espousing the cause of the feathered race, " done 

 the State some service. " 



Lines on the tenth day of June. 



BV DOCT. O. W. IIOL-MES. 



'Tis farin'June — the tenth of June — 



The month of leaves and roses — 

 And pleasant sights should meet the eves, 



And pleasant smells the noses ; 

 They say that time is on the wing, 



And Autumn on the gaining. 

 But who would know it when it is 



Perpetually raining ! 



I got my summer pantaloons 



A month ago on Monday, 

 And I have never had a chance 



To wear them on a Sunday. 

 It's time for all the pleasant things, 



For walking, riding, training. 

 But there is nothing in the world 



But raining, raining, raining! 



The weather cock has rusted east, 



The blue sky is forgotten, 

 The earth's a saturateil sponge, 



And vegetation's rotten ; 

 I hate to see tlie darkest side, 



I hate to be complaining, 

 But hang me if my temper stands 



This "raining, raining, raining!" 



Sixth of July, 



'Tis raining yet, 'tis raining yet — • 



The clouds hang on the hills: 

 The Sunday pantaloons put on 



Are cold as winter rills ; 

 The thunder storms come north about, 



Denoting wet, " more wet," 

 If " time is ever on the wing," 



Why is no summer vet ? 



Eleventh of July. 



The water roUnd the corn and beans 



Still stands, as if in spite ; 

 The rain still pouring from tho skies 



Spoils lady's dress of white : 

 The lightning sharp last night, methought, 



Set air and earth on fire : 

 To da}' it rains, rains, only rains — 



Wlicn shall we have it drier ? 



For 1 tie Faniifi'.^ ."Moiirlily Visitor. 

 Fdiication of Farmers. — No. 3. 



r.tClI.ITIES FOR KNOWLKDCE. 



I have already hazarded the opinion, that farmers, 

 even in their present neglected slate, possess a 

 greater amount of useful knowledge than anv other 

 class of the community. I also believe thiit their 

 knowledge is very limited, compared with what it 

 might be, if they understood and appreciated what 

 they already possess, and improved their advanta- 

 ges for acquiring more. For I am entirely settled 

 in the opinion that their advantages for acquiring 

 useful knowledge are superior to those of any otli^ 

 er class, and much superior to those of the profess- 

 ed scholar. 



For acquiring a knowledge of natural science, a 

 farm is one of the best schools, is perhaps the best 

 school which can be provided. Chemistry, Natural 

 Philosophy, Botany, Entomology, Geology, Mine- 

 ralogy, Physiology, Geometry, and some'^other de- 

 partments of matliematica, are all brought to view 

 u))nii a furm, at.d not iu abstract theory'mercly, but 

 'm their prnctieal operatiorjs upon a large scale. 



