The Story-Book of the Fields 



live exclusively on that which is harmful to us. 

 But the granivorous birds are not altogether 

 blameless. There are some who rob the corn- 

 fields, who extract the wheat from the ear, 

 and who are impudent enough to claim a share 

 of the oats thrown to the fowls in the poultry- 

 yard. Others prefer the juicy flesh of fruit ; 

 they know before we do when the cherries are 

 ripe and the pears mellow. But these mis- 

 deeds are compensated for by many services. 

 The grain-eaters gather in the fields a great 

 number of seeds, which if they were allowed to 

 grow up would infest the crop with weeds. 

 With this character of weeders they combine 

 another that is even more deserving. Grain, 

 it is true, is their usual food, but the insect is 

 not so much despised that most of them will 

 not feast on it when abundant and easily 

 caught. Better still, when young, feeble and 

 featherless, receiving their beakful from their 

 parents, many grain-eaters are fed with 

 insects. The sparrow, for instance, is a 

 decided grain-eater. He plunders the dove- 

 cots and the poultry yards, stealing the food 

 of the pigeons and fowls ; he reaps the corn- 

 fields near our dwellings before we can. 

 Many other misdeeds are laid to his charge. 

 He strips the cherry trees, robs the gardens, 



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