PASSERES. 311 



This occurred on a main thoroughfare of the town; but 

 the hungry sparrows returned to the feast again and 

 again, ridding the place of scores of these wood-boring 

 pests. 



On the whole, this is the order of birds most beneficial 

 to man, coming closest to him in point of nervous organ- 

 ization, asking most of him in the way of protection, and 

 returning most to him in service. It is a fact running 

 through the animal kingdom, all the way up from the 

 amoeba to the most highly organized race of the human 

 tribe, that the animal high in nervous organization has 

 less effective means of defense physically. Hence there 

 should exist between man and these nervous little birds 

 the closest sympathy and a spirit of mutual helpfulness. 

 It is there, on the part of the passerine birds; and if man 

 would have an effective ally in his farming and crop- 

 raising generally, not to speak of his place of abode being 

 kept comfortably and normally free from noxious pests 

 of many kinds, he will cultivate in himself, if it is not 

 already there, a feeling of dependence upon these valuable 

 servant-friends, and will seek to protect them in every 

 way possible. A bird's life is not to be taken lightly; it is 

 of the same sort as yours, with the germs of many of the 

 same high sensibilities as you yourself possess. 



