UTILITY OF BIRDS. 233 



THE UTILITY OF BIRDS. 



These are among the most useful of the farmer's aids, in 

 iring his crops from insect depredation ; and yet manifest 

 as this is to every observing man, they are frequently pursued 

 and hunted from the premises as if they were his worst ene- 

 mies. The martin, the swallow and the wren, which may 

 almost be considered among the domestics of the farm ; and 

 the sparrow, the robin, the blue bird, the wood-pecker, the 

 bob-a-link, the yellow bird, the thrush, the oriole and nearly 

 all the gay songsters of the field accomplish more for the 

 destruction of noxious flies, worms and insects, (the real ene- 

 mies of the farmer,) than all the nostrums ever invented. 

 And hence the folly of that absurd custom of scare-crows in 

 corn-fields and orchards, to which we have before alluded ; 

 and the chickens and ducks do the farmer more benefit than 

 injury in the garden and pleasure grounds, if kept out of the 

 way while the young plants are coming up. A troop of 

 young turkeys in the field, will destroy their weight in grass- 

 hoppers every three days, during their prevalence in summer. 

 A pair of sparrows while feeding their young, will consume 

 3,360 catterpillars in a week. One hundred crows will 

 devour a ton and half of grubs and insects in a season. 

 Even the hawk and the owl, the objects of general aversion, 

 rid the fields and woods of innumerable squirrels, moles and 

 field mice, which are frequently great depredators upon the 

 crops, (after having exhausted the stores of worms and insects 

 which they first invariably devour,) and the smaller species 

 when pressed by hunger, will even resort to grubs, beetles 

 and grasshoppers, in the absence of larger game. That 

 loathsome monster the bat, in its hobgoblin, murky flight, 

 will destroy its bulk of flies in a single night. Slight injury 

 may occasionally be done to the grain and fruit by the smaller 

 birds, and when thus intrusive, some temporary precaution 

 will suffice to prevent much loss. But whatever it may be, 

 the balance of benefit to the farmer from their presence, is 

 gem? rally in their favor, and instead of driving them from 

 liis grounds, he should encourage their social, chatty visits by 

 kind and gentle treatment, and by providing trees and pleas- 

 ant shrubbery for their accommodation. 



TOADS, FROGS, &c. Shakespeare has said " the toad, 

 ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head." 

 Deducting the venom we shall find the poet right ; for we can 

 no more attempt the defence of his beauty, than that of the 



