1G8 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



was on the premises, I hastened to the house to procure a gun 

 to shoot the marauder. When I returned, I perceived a gray- 

 ish bird on the bushy top of a tree, and, thinking it was the 

 robber, I fired, and down dropped a poor, innocent Phoebe 

 bird. 



"Hoping to find some consolation to my conscience, for 

 having committed this most foul murder, I inwardly accused 

 the poor little Phoebe of having also killed the bees ; and, 

 having determined to ascertain the fact by dissecting the bird, 

 it was opened, when, much to my regret and astonishment, 

 it was found to be full of the striped cucumber bugs, and not 

 one single bee. Here I had killed the very bird that had 

 been working for me the whole season, and perfectly innocent 

 of the crime for which it was sacrificed. After the circum- 

 stance, I determined to never let a gun be fired on the prem- 

 ises, excepting on special occasions ; and at present the place 

 is perfectly crowded during spring, summer and autumn, with 

 the feathered songsters, which build their nests even in my 

 very porch, and bring up their young perfectly fearless of 

 mankind ; and although cherries, strawberries, &c., do suffer, 

 yet the insects are not a quarter as numerous and troublesome 

 as they were formerly. 



" In the southern States, I have seen the bee-martin chase 

 and capture a boll-worm moth, not ten paces from where I 

 stood, and the mocking-bird feeding its nearly grown young 

 on the same insect. Even the ugly toad works for the farmer 

 and gardener, as his food consists of insects more or less in- 

 jurious. The beautiful and lively green and gray lizards of 

 the southern States, which are seen running on the fence-rail, 

 or amidst the green foliage of trees, shrubs and bushes, and 

 from which they can scarcely be distinguished except when 

 in motion, are ever on the watch for insect prey ; and I know 

 of one curious case in which even the mice in the green-house 



