BIRDS. 



573 



of its admirers : it increased with great rapidity, and now the quarrel- 

 some, useless creatures are everywhere to be found. They care nothing 

 for worms, and are not of the slightest use to the agriculturist. They 

 live on the crumbs and grain thrown out by charitable persons, and on 



Fig. 473. — Cardinal grosbeak (Cardinalis cardinalis), above; rose-breasted grosbeak (Habia 



ludovicana) , below. 



what they can scrape from the dropping of horses. They let the canker- 

 worm, the potato-beetle, and the cabbage pests alone. They are quarrel- 

 some, and tend to drive away our much better native birds. Fortunately 

 they are good to eat, and the sooner the law withdraws its protection from 

 them, and the sooner they appear on our bills of fare, so much the better 

 for the country. 



