PROTECTIOK AGAINST ANIMALS. 121 



search of larvae and slugs Avith which they feed their 

 young. 



(3.) Other insects prove beneficial by depositing their 

 eggs in the pupas of injurious caterpillars upon which 

 the young feed, when hatched. To this class (parasites) 

 belong the ichneumon-flies {tenthredo) which range all 

 the way from flies an inch in length to so minute species 

 that they scarcely are visible to tlie naked eye. The 

 larger kinds deposit only one eg^ in eacii victim, while 

 some of the smaller leave their entire complement of 

 eggs on one caterpillar. The eggs hatch soon, and the 

 larvEe eat their way into the worm where they consume 

 all the substance that would otherwise go to make the 

 future noxious moth. 



B. — The Doubtful Animals. 



Mistakes are often made with regard to the good or 

 bad offices of birds by those who ought to know which 

 are their friends and which their foes. This holds es- 

 pecially good in reference to 



The jay. It is true that this fellow in the spring 

 hunts after the eggs of the smaller, useful birds, and 

 sucks the meat out of them with great relish ; but in the 

 fall he industriously collects ripe acorns and beechnuts, 

 and buries them in various places in the ground, in 

 order to lay aside food enough to supply his needs during 

 the winter. Fortunately he forgets most of the hiding- 

 places, and the result is that the seeds sprout and pro- 

 duce fine seedlings. 



The sparrotv, of which lately much complaint has been 

 made, is in many respects detrimental to field and garden 

 products, as he feeds principally upon fruit. But in the 

 winter time he is very useful, living then upon eggs of 

 the insects which he picks from the bark of the trees. 

 During the breeding-time, in spring and eaily summer, 

 he destroys a great many insects in order to satisfy the 



