10 USEFUL OR HARMFUL? 



attained, this bird does more good by destroying insects, 

 and in particular the larvse of insects living underground, 

 than it does harm to the crops. 



It is our endeavour in this little volume which we now 

 offer to English readers, to give a faithful presentment 

 of the good and the harm that the birds are known to 

 do, from the agriculturist's standpoint. But in this all 

 depends on the attitude which the gardener and the 

 farmer adopt towards the birds. 



By throwing a single stone a lad can scare away a 

 whole flock of rooks ; and w 7 hen these birds alight on a 

 field where they do harm to grain, a man must not 

 grudge a little labour in keeping them off; considering 

 that the same bird that works harm at one season, will 

 be a valuable ally at another, as well as a source of 

 pleasure and interest. 



The rook, the crow, and even the mischievous magpie, 

 follow the plough as it turns up the brown furrows, 

 with sharp eyes spying worms, larvae and cockchafer 

 grubs. Nothing escapes the attention of the bird. He 

 picks here and there, and fills his crop with the worst 

 enemies of the tiller of the fields the various forms of 

 insect life that lie dormant in the earth until the time 

 arrives for each one to come forth and fulfil its life's 

 mission much of which means injury to the fruit of 

 man's labour. 



Starlings rise in flocks a perfect cloud of them to 

 disperse, and again to assemble before settling on the 

 pastures, where they will be busy all the day, for that 

 part of the year when man needs their services most. 



Later, in the cherry trees and among our own vines 

 the' starlings would do mischief enough. The rifled 

 branches and stripped grape stems are a sorry sight for 



