i 4 AMBLES OF A VOfMINIS 



harvest of the British Islands in rather less than twelve 

 months. 



But, as a matter of fact, no such increase is possible. 

 The vast majority of nestlings die from cold and wet 

 and the attacks of bird and beast before the end even of 

 their first season, and the bird population of any district 

 hardly varies in amount from year to year. 



It has been well urged in defence of the sparrow that 

 the time during which the grain is open to attack is but 

 brief, while the work of ridding the land of noxious 

 insects is continued all the year. Careful calculations 

 have been made as to the work done by this indefatigable 

 bird in the destruction of grubs and wire-worms and 

 other foes of the farmer. During the breeding season a 

 pair of sparrows will carry to their young as many as 

 forty thousand caterpillars, besides an untold quantity 

 of other forms of insect life. 



In the United States, where the vast flocks of sparrows 

 were long regarded with disfavour, the farmer is be- 

 ginning now to welcome them as stout allies ; to see in 

 their appearing the safety of his crops. Those who 

 grudge to their feathered labourers their dole of corn, 

 and wish to do without them, may remember how the 

 men of Killingworth in conclave met, 



" shook their heads, and doomed with dreadful words 



To swift destruction the whole race of birds." 



They bought their experience dear : 



" The summer came, and all the birds were dead, 

 The days were like hot coals ; the very ground 



