THE SPARROW KIND. 255 



thrush, the blackbird, the fieldfare, the starling, 

 the lark, the titmouse, the water-wagtail, the 

 nightingale, the red-start, the robin red-breast, 

 the beccafigo, the stone-chatter, the whin-chat, 

 the white-throat, the hedge-sparrow, the petti- 

 chaps, the golden-crowned wren, the wren, the 

 humming-bird, and several other small birds of 

 the sparrow kind, unknown in this part of the 

 world. 



All these, as was said, live for the most part 

 upon insects, and are consequently of particular 

 benefit to man. By these are his grounds cleared 

 of the pernicious swarms of vermin that devour 

 the budding leaves and flowers, and that even 

 attack the root itself, before ever the vegetable 

 can come to maturity. These seek for and de- 

 stroy the eggs of insects that would otherwise 

 propagate in numbers beyond the arts of man to 

 extirpate ; they know better than man where to 

 seek for them ; and thus at once satisfy their own 

 appetites, and render him the most essential ser- 

 vices. 



But this is not the only merit of this tribe : in 

 it we have the sweetest songsters of the grove ; 

 their notes are softer, and their manner more mu- 

 sically soothing than those of hard-billed birds. 

 The foremost in musical fame are, the nightin- 

 gale, the thrush, the blackbird, the lark, the red- 

 breast, the black-cap, and the wren. 



Birds of the sparrow kind, with thick and short 

 bills, are the grosbeak, the greenfinch, the bull- 

 finch, the cross-bill, the house-sparrow, the chaf- 

 finch, the brambling, the goldfinch, the linnet, the 



