ENEMIES OF PLANTS. 317 



in a few years if the birds were extermin- 

 ated.* 



" What! would you rather see the incessant stir 

 Of insects in the windrows of the hay. 



And hear the locust and the grasshopper 

 Their melancholy hurdy-gurdies play ? 



Is this more pleasant to you than the whir 

 Of meado\v-lark, and her sweet roundelay, 



Or twitter of little field-fares, as you take 



Your nooning in the shade of bush and brake ? 



"You call them thieves and pillagers; but know, 

 They are the winged wardens of your farms, 

 Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe, 



And from your harvests keep a hundred harms ; 

 Even the blackest of them all, the crow, 



Renders good service as your man at arms, 

 Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail, 

 And crying havoc on the slug and snail." 



The Birds of Killing-worth, LONGFELLOW. 



2. Predaceous Insects. Predaceous insects, 

 or those that prey upon or eat other insects, are 

 also helpful to the farmer. 



(i) SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. Among- the most 

 useful of these insects are several species of 

 laclybugs ( Coccinellida}. 



Both the adult and larval forms feed upon 



* It would be a profitable investment to plant out some Russian 

 mulberry-trees on purpose for the birds, or to grow in waste 

 places and corners such plants as hemp and sunflowers, allowing 

 them to stand throughout the winter as supplies for the birds 

 when food is scarce. 



