No. 11. 



Birds on Farms. 



341 



hardly difinify it with tlie name of farming. 

 I am awure tint labor of a proper kind is in 

 many cisos difficult to be procured, and with 

 our habits, asdifficult tu be manaifed. Farming 

 likewise, can in few situations be successfully 

 manajjed, unless the farmer has capital to em- 

 ploy, e(|ua] at least to one year's manure and 

 one year's crops. A iwrge portion of our farm- 

 ers, also, from the nature of their habits and 

 style of livinn^, are so prosperous and indepen- 

 dent, that they have nooccasiontoextend their 

 cultivation beyond what it now is, in order to 

 meet iheir wants ; and to incur all the trouble, 

 vexation, and risk of employing more labor, 

 expending more capital, and increasing their 

 cares. 



But it is not fair to produce such instances 

 as any examples of thi' profit or uuprofitable- 

 ness of iuHbandry, when carried on, as all 

 other branches of business, to be successful, 

 must be caried on with intelligence, skill, in- 

 dustry, enterprise ; and all the capital and all 

 the labor which can be advantageously em- 

 ployed in it. I will not, however, anticipate 

 such general viewsof the subject, as I propose 

 to take in the retrospect of the whole survey. 

 — Colinaii's Survey. 



Birds on Farms. 



Thp value of birds in districts settled as 

 thickly as the county of Philadelphia, is ap- 

 preciated by but few individuals. The beauty 

 of their plumage delights the eye; their song 

 cheers the husbandman in his toil, and give a 

 charm to tlie country which no resident can 

 too highly appreciate. The joyous twitter of 

 the swallow and the martin, the song of the 

 bluebird in the spring, the delightful wild notes 

 of the partridge, the lark, the plover, the robin, 

 the thrush, the mocking-bird, and tlie sparrow, 

 awaken an interest in those companions of 

 the iiirmer, which should impel them to 

 prompt and energetic exertions for their pre- 

 servation. And let me ask, was there ever 

 a time when these interesting creatures de- 

 manded protection more than at the present 

 period? In this county, our farms are over- 

 run by parties of worthless boys, and more 

 worthless men, who employ their time in de- 

 stroying whatever comes in their way. Thev 

 break our fences, alarm and very often injure 

 our cattle ; jeopardize the lives and limbs 

 of our people, and the teams with which they 

 are at work, and many of them do not hesi- 

 tate to plunder us of our poultry when an op- 

 portunity ofT'ers. They tread down our crops 

 and injure and annoy us in various ways, and 

 all for the ostensible purpose of destroying the 

 few birds which yet remain with us, wliich 

 are not worth to them the cost of the powder 

 and shot used in their destruction. When 

 our horses are alarmed and become unman- 



ageable in consequence of their firing, they 

 very ollen refuse to abstain from what they 

 denominate their sport; and my people have 

 been compelled to quit their work for fear of 

 some serious accident, and still they would 

 persevere. Let us no longer submit to such 

 annoyances and injury, but assert our rights 

 boldly and fearlessly. There is a law which 

 applies to this county, which, if put in lorce, 

 is abundantly sutlicient to afiord our birds 

 protection, and to rid ns of this intolerable 

 nuisance. The value of birds to a farmer, 

 few are able to estimate. To say nothing of 

 the songs of those warblers, to which I al- 

 ways listen witii delight, their value in the 

 destruction of bugs, tlies, worms and noxious 

 insects, is incalculable. The swallow, the 

 martin and many other.s, busily employ them- 

 selves in destroying nmsquitoes, flies and 

 other tenants of ihe air, which annoy us with 

 their sting, or injure us in other respects. 



The robin, woodpecker, sapsucker, and va- 

 rious other birds, protect our orchards, destroy 

 the worms and insects that can there do us 

 mischief, and in their absence there is no lit- 

 tle labor required to protect and save the 

 trees which their industry alone would re- 

 lieve us from. Besides, they do their work 

 better than we can. The presence of a worm 

 in a young tree is only indicated to us by the 

 borings thrown from the orifice made by his 

 entrance, and in removing them with a knife, 

 serious "injury is done to the tree. The bird, 

 on the contrary, eats the egg, destroys the 

 worm when young, or if he has avoided his 

 vigilance and got under the bark, nature has 

 endowed the two last mentioned with a strong 

 bill with which to strike through the bark, 

 and long and rough tongues with which to 

 drag the lurking villain from his hiding place, 

 and that too with the least possible injury to 

 the tree. Where is the farmer who has not 

 seen his apple trees perforated along the whole 

 length of their trunk by these industrious la- 

 borers; and who has not seen such trees dis- 

 tinguished for their health and fruitfulncss 1 



I can recollect when there were large or- 

 chards of healthy trees in parts of this countv, 

 where it is now almost a folly to attempt to 

 rear an apple tree. Those orchards that arc 

 near clumps of wood, may still exist here, but 

 where there is no such harbor for birds de- 

 signed for their preservation, it is in vain to 

 attempt to rear a tree and preserve it against 

 the destructive ravages of the insects that feed 

 upon it. 



Tlie partridgp, the plover and lark, too, feed 

 upon insects and labor diligently to promote 

 the interests of the farmer in destroying his 

 enemies. What gives a man more pleasure 

 than when walking over his grounds, he is 

 welcomed by the shrill whistle of the part- 

 ridge, who, grown familiar with liis friend 



