284 OUR NATrn: songsters. 



with aphides, and these we ascertained, not the 

 soft seeds, were what attracted the chaffinch. 

 Whether the bird devoured the aphides itself, 

 while in the bush, or, as we rather suspect, carried 

 them off for the pui-pose of feeding the young 

 brood, we cannot say ; but an immense number of 

 aphides must have been destroyed during its re- 

 peated visits." 



Thus it is with several other of our small birds. 

 They injure our flowers and buds, and we forget 

 liow much we owe to them, on the other hand, for 

 their destruction of the insect race. The Great 

 Creator has ordained that one living creature 

 should prey upon another ; and were one link 

 wanting in the chain, which tlius binds them as 

 to a common destiny, the results would be more 

 terrible than we can conceive. It is well known 

 that the foliage and young fruits of orchards and 

 gardens have greatly suffered from the habit of 

 destroying those small birds, which would else 

 have prevented the increase of insects. Mr. Curtis, 

 the author of several valuable botanical works, paid 

 great attention to this subject. He was the owner 

 of large orchards, and so convinced was he, by long 

 observation, of the utility of the small birds, that 



