50 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ESSEX. 



UTILITY OF BIRDS. 



BY WILSON FLAGG. 



It may seem strange to some of our readers that there is a 

 necessity, in the present enlightened age, to enter into a course 

 of argument to prove the utility of birds to agriculture ; they 

 may be still more surprised to learn that the greatest enemies 

 of the birds are among those classes whose occupation would 

 be ruined, if they were for a single year wholly deprived of 

 their services. We are accustomed to plead for the birds as 

 beautiful and interesting objects, that deserve protection for 

 their own sake, while we overlook their importance in the 

 economy of nature. Valuable as they are for their songs, their 

 lively motions, their gay plumage and their amusing habits, all 

 these circumstances are of minor importance, compared with 

 the benefits they confer upon man, as checks upon the over- 

 multiplication of noxious insects. The fields are greener and 

 the flowers more beautiful in the spring, the fruits of summer 

 and autumn are fairer and more abundant, and all nature is 

 preserved in freshness and beauty by these hosts of winged 

 musicians who celebrate their garrulous revelries in the woods 

 and pastures. 



From a conviction that this general ignorance or imperfect 

 appreciation of the services of birds may lead to momentous 

 consequences, I propose to make a formal vindication of the 

 feathered race, but shall not in any respect exaggerate their 

 importance. I believe it admits of demonstration, that if the 

 birds were exterminated, mankind could not subsist upon the 

 face of the earth. Almost eveay species is indispensable to our 

 agricultural prosperity. The gunner who destroys ten birds in 

 the spring, secures the preservation of so many millions of 

 injurious insects to ravage our crops, and to destroy the trees 

 of our forests and our orchards. Naturalists, in general, will 

 admit the great importance of their services ; but cultivators, 



