UTILITY OF BIRDS. 63 



food from the ground, always discovers it while perched upon 

 a tree or a fence, and darts down upon it from his perch. It 

 is evident that birds of certain species must be endowed with a 

 much greater power of sight than quadrupeds, to enable them 

 to discern their prey from distant stand points. 



Tiie foraging habits of the ditfercnt species of domestic poul- 

 try are worthy of remark, and may seem to illustrate some of 

 the differences observed in the habits of the wild birds. Place 

 a brood of ducks in a field, in grasshopper time, and they will 

 all pursue one course, marching in a body over the field, with 

 great uniformity. A brood of chickens, on the contrary, will 

 scatter in all directions, occasionally re-assembling, but never 

 keeping close together, nor following any definite line of march, 

 except when they are led by the mother hen. Turkeys scatter 

 themselves less than chickens, but do not equal ducks in the 

 regularity of their movements. Pigeons settle down upon a 

 field in a compact flock and immediately radiate in all direc- 

 tions. Geese do not separate widely from each other, but they 

 preserve no line of march like ducks, because they are not in 

 pursuit of insects, but feed upon grass and keep together after 

 the manner of a flock of sheep. 



Of all birds the most interesting foragers are those that 

 seek their food in compact assemblages. This habit it is that 

 renders the snow bunting so attractive. Their food is not 

 distributed in separate morsels, like the food of robins or of 

 "woodpeckers ; but consists chiefly of the seeds of grasses and 

 composite plants, which are scattered somewhat evenly and 

 profusely over a wide surface. When, therefore, they settle 

 down upon a field in a flock of a hundred or more, each indi- 

 vidual fares as well as if he were entirely alone. But we may 

 be justified in drawing this inference from the foraging habits 

 of birds, that as a general rule, the gregarious birds are not so 

 useful to agriculture as the solitary feeders or those that feed 

 in straggling flocks. Insect feeders, for the most part, find it 

 profitable to scatter and keep separate, because their food is 

 sparsely distributed. This is not true, however, of the birds 

 that frequent the salt marshes, where their food is widely 

 and evenly spread like seeds in a grassfield. Hence plovers, 

 sandpipers and their allied species, forage in flocks, like the 



