4O WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



and fly-catchers that enchant us with their 

 delightful music ; and soon we have the familiar 

 Landrail or Corncraik. All these arrive in 

 May, and are insect and fly eaters. 



Did it ever occur to those who see the 

 Swallow skimming the surface of the water, 

 the Swift wheeling high in the air with his 

 screeching noise, the little warbler that flits in 

 the bushes, or the Tree-Creeper, who, spiral 

 fashion, goes round tree by tree carefully, what 

 kind of life we would lead without these birds ? 

 The myriads of insects they destroy would, if 

 left unmolested, constitute a plague. We can 

 have little idea of the number of noxious insects 

 cleared from the air by these birds alone. 



The instinct of the migrants in returning 

 year by year to their former abode is wonderful. 

 Jeremiah tells us " The crane and the swallow 

 observe the time of their coming," so that the 

 habits and migrations of the Swallow were known 

 to the inspired writers. Reason errs, instinct 

 never. The insect-eating birds never appear 



