NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



351 



For the Neiv England Farmer 

 BIRDS. 



BY CHARLES SIEDHOF. 



The Rose-Rreasted Grossbeak. — (Coccaihraiistes ludovi- 



cinnus — Loxia ludoviciana — Loxla rosea. 



I consider it as a great merit of tliis highly val- 

 uable paper, that it advocates so strongly the pro- 

 tection and preservation of birds. Having been 

 accustomed to devote my attention to ornithology 

 from childhood, I was enabled, while in Germany, 

 to publish a book on the singing birds of that 

 country. My object was not so much to improve 

 on the system as to investigate and show the indi- 

 vidual characteristics and manners of the species, 

 tribes and genera. For this purpose I was always 

 surrounded by several hundreds of living birds, 

 kept in a suitable room adjoining my study. Two 

 windows, put in the wall between said room and 

 my study, enabled me to watch and observe them 

 carefully. Immediately after my arrival in this 

 country, I resumed this beautiful occupation, and 

 opened a correspondence with the greatest Amer- 

 ican ornithologists. This may be enough either to 

 justify or excuse my writing on birds. 



Last winter I expressed, in a lecture before tl e 

 Lyceum, my strong conviction that no bird ought 

 to be destroyed but the birds of prey, excepting 

 from them the owls, which chiefly live on mice and 

 moles. They compensate a hundredfold the damage 

 they sometimes do in the orchard or field by the 

 destruction of myriads of insects and grubs they 

 eat. Is it wrong and unjustifiable to shoot birds 

 for the sake of pleasure, what must a man with a 

 sensible heart feel, when he hears the report of 

 guns in the breeding season ? Parents and teach- 

 ers, who allow your sons or pupils to kill birds, 

 especially in the months of May, June, July and 

 August, and to deprive the poor young ones of 

 their parents that nurse and feed them, are you 

 Christians? Do you not see the extreme cruelty, 

 for which you will have to account some time? — 

 Can you bear the thought, that your children 

 should be left to starvation after your death 1 Can 

 you, who permit that, pray to your God, and hope 

 to find mercy with him, who have no mercy with 

 his creatures ? My heart aches in hearing the fir- 

 ing of guns every day in my neighborhood. 



Still I have to return to the rose-breasted gross- 

 beak. This most elegant bird is said to inhabit 

 the remote regions of the Rocky Mountains, Cana- 

 da, Newfoundland, &c. In 184/ I observed a pair 

 at Newton Centre, in a wood between the Theolo- 

 gical Institution and the Worcester Turnpike, but 

 could not find the nest. "Wilson knows nothing 

 about it ; Nuttall refers to Bonaparte, who says, 

 "the nest was built amidst the thick foliage of the 

 forest;" Audubon asserts it was found near the 

 water edge. It is clear in itself, that very little 

 confidence can be placed in such statements. Au- 

 dubon's merits in his representations of the Amer- 

 ican birds are far above my praise ; as a critical 

 ornithologist, however, he has no great claim, so 

 far as my personal observations extend. His imag- 

 ination was very powerful, and carried him not 

 unfrequently away. It is out of place to prove 

 this here; still I can prove, that he relies too much 

 on his predecessors, especially on Wilson, whose 

 errors he unhesitatingly repeats, and which he 

 thus corroborates. 



After I had seen the pair of the rose-breasted 

 grossbeak, and being at a loss where to find their 



nest, I wrote to my excellent friend, Spencer F. 

 B.urd, then Professor of Natural History in Car- 

 lisle, Penn., but could not obtain any information, 

 he being entirely unacquainted with the nest of 

 the bird. 



As I have been lucky enough to introduce the 

 rose-breasted grossbeak from the out-of-the-way 

 regions of the Rocky Mountains as a townsman of 

 Newton Centre, so I am so fortunate as to intro- 

 duce him as a townsman of Lancaster. I not on- 

 ly met with half a dozen of pairs, but succeeded in 

 finding a nest, containing four eggs, on the 24th 

 inst. The voice and song of this bird are superior 

 to all American birds, except the ferruginous 

 thrush, (orpheus ferrugineous;) but living in the 

 depth of the secluded forest, it has hitherto es- 

 caped the notice of the ornithologists. 



Lancaster, Mass. c. s. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 APHIDES AND ANTS. 



Mr. Editor : — Your relation to your readers is 

 very much like a common school teacher's to his 

 pupils. A teacher is supposed to know every- 

 thing, and to be able to explain everything to the 

 satisfaction of his pupils; and, moreover, they 

 feel, that they have a perfect right to go to him 

 for an explanation of all difficulties in relation to 

 their studies, whether he has leisure to attend to 

 them or not. 



Now, what I want to know, is, what connec- 

 tion (if any) exists between the aphis and the 

 ant ? On all my best fruit trees, the most vigor- 

 ous and thrifty ones, the aphides abound ; and a 

 multitude of ants are daily seen running up and 

 down in a great hurry. On the extremities of all 

 the tenderest twigs, the two may be seen in close 

 connection, if not in direct contact, busily doing 

 something, what, I cannot tell. If I disturb the 

 ants in their operations, they immediately assume 

 a belligerent aspect, appear to be in a great fury 

 and ready for tight. They seem determined to 

 stand up in their own defence, and to let me know, 

 that they do not mean to be disturbed with im- 

 punity, while they are minding their own business 

 and not interfering with the rights of others. 

 Now, I wish to know, also, whether there is any 

 lawful, cheap and easy way of putting a stop to 

 their operations on large fruit trees 1 If, howev- 

 er, you shall make it appear that the ant subsists 

 upon the aphis, I should not think it best to issue 

 a writ of injunction. Mount Grace. 



Warwick, July 12, 1852. 



Remarks. — If more attention were given to the 

 organic life about us on the farm, or, indeed, to 

 all the wonderful operations of nature with which 

 we are concerned, there would be less dissatisfac- 

 tion with rural life, while the mind would be 

 gradually filled with the most pleasing and use- 

 ful information. We thank "Mount Grace," not 

 only for the observations he has made, but for 

 communicating them to us. His queries introduce 

 a subject most intensely interesting, a better 

 knowledge of which would be profitable were it 

 only for the gratification imparted to an inquiring 

 mind. 



On the tender shoots of the young apple trees, 



