THE FARMER'S FEATHERED FRIENDS, 51 



injure the farmer's produce, we must recognise him 

 as one of the greatest unpaid benefactors of man. 

 He steals some fruit, it is true. Nearly all wild 

 creatures take a small tithe from man ; it is only 

 their due, for by their unwearied exertions they 

 destroy those enemies, whose name is legion, that 

 he could not combat without their aid. Only those 

 who have lived with the birds all their lives, roam- 

 ing about in the woods, over the fields and the 

 waste lands, can form any opinion how much man 

 is indebted to his feathered friends for his welfare 

 and comfort. 



Next to the rook comes the jackdaw, the shep- 

 herd's assistant. Whenever a farmer shoots one of 

 these bright little fellows, he kills a sanitary inspector 

 of, we might say, two or three sheep. The woolly 

 creatures are his particular charge. Where you see 

 rooks you will most likely see or hear jackdaws 

 not far from them ; not invariably, but generally. 

 With the jackdaws you will find the beautifully 

 marked starlings. "That is never a starling," 

 exclaimed a friend of ours, on being shown the 

 faithful portrait of one of these birds; "I thought 

 starlings were all black." And so think many who 



