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CHAPTER IX. 

 RATIONAL BIRD PROTECTION. 



ONLY a savage, or an ignorant man, can harm or wish to 

 get rid of a bird before he has convinced himself that it 

 is harmful. I have said already that in the abstract 

 there are no useful and harmful birds, as such. The bird 

 exists as a product of Nature, to fulfil, like everything 

 else, the tasks allotted to it by Nature and in Nature, 

 which no other creature can perform. 



It is man who makes the bird useful or hurtful to 

 himself, when he tears up the turf, and sows such seed as 

 brings rich crops which serve the bird for food ; or when 

 he plants an orchard or vineyard, where there was none 

 before. Therefore, for the good of the birds and also 

 of man we must carefully reflect what it is our duty to 

 do and how we can best do it. 



The Tits, Hedge Sparrows, Flycatchers and others 

 whose industry know no rest, do invaluable service to a 

 sensible man ; for while the most observant and diligent 

 gardener can only destroy those caterpillars' nests which 

 meet his eye wholesale, these useful birds, hopping 

 about, darting and leaping, hanging and pecking, 

 devour all the mischievous pests, even when they are 

 quite out of reach of man, and certainly out of his sight. 



These services can even be estimated to a certain 

 extent. 



The tiny Wren consumes in one year more than three 

 million insects in different forms, either as eggs, 



Y 



