78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



be bordered with these wild fruits, to supply the birds with a 

 dessert and divert them from our gardens. Without occupying 

 any valuable space, these blueberry bushes would feed the birds 

 and produce tons of berries to employ the diligent hands of 

 women and children of poor families, who would gather them 

 for the market. "When such provision is made by our different 

 legislatures, or by private munificence, the birds will be satisfied 

 and our gardens will be secure. 



There need be no fear that birds will multiply beyond their 

 means of support, as spontaneously furnished them by nature. 

 When man makes no efforts to destroy them, birds of every 

 species will multiply in proportion to their supply of food, on 

 the one hand, and to their shelter and conveniences for building 

 their nests and rearing their young, on the other. Blackbirds 

 diminish in numbers, while robins multiply, as the country 

 is cleared and cultivated, and the improved tillage causes an 

 increased supply of their insect food. This is because the 

 protection which the robin receives is denied to the blackbird. 

 But if men are disposed to complain of the larger proportion 

 of robins in their own vicinity, let it be remembered that the 

 greater amount of land in high cultivation requires a propor- 

 tionally greater number of these birds to devour the insects 

 which are engendered by the more extensive cultivation of the 

 soil ; and if they are kept below this limit, the insects upon 

 which they feed will have an insufficient check upon their 

 over-multiplication. 



It is necessary, for the interest of agriculture, that birds 

 should be fully up to their supply of insect food ; but this 

 cannot be, on account of the numerous ways in which they are 

 exposed to destruction ; by cats, by birds of prey, by gunners, 

 and by juvenile nest-hunters. It is the duty of legislators, 

 therefore, to make laws for their protection ; and to render 

 these laws effective, public opinion must be enlightened with 

 respect to the utility of birds ; and the people should be made 

 to understand that, as soon as the abundance of insects is in- 

 creased disproportionally to the number of birds that feed upon 

 them, their crops will suffer in the same proportion. Not an 

 acre of cultivated land in the whole country should be without 

 a pair of robins ; and protection should be extended to all 

 other birds, except the rapacious tribes. 



