528 [Assembly 



tm dollars for /cilling it. Our little cat bird is a great destroyer of 

 caterpillars; it will hardly touch any thing else for her own eating or 

 for her young. There is a sort of fascination in our wild cherry tree 

 for butterflies. For the deposit of their eggs, no tree of the forest is so 

 much covered with the nests of catterpillars as this. I cut them 

 down. The wren feeds on a variety of insects, helps the bees much, 

 by eating the moths so detested by the bees. The wren busies itself 

 among the bees, all of whom are pleased with its company. Our 

 king bird has been supposed to eat bees, and one of his names is 

 Bee Martin, but that is a great mistake, he watches the bees as they 

 pass him, never touches one of them, but the instant he sees a drone 

 he snaps him up. The bees themselves kill off drones when the sup- 

 ply of honey is a little short. 



The Chairman. — That is so. 



Dr. Underbill. — Within seven years past we have had ah invasion, 

 from the aphis by millions on millions. They almost destroyed all the 

 leaves in some of our orchards. This occurred after our woodpeckers 

 had almost disappeared from among us; it was then came the myriads 

 of aphis. Our heedless sportsmen had destroyed or frightened our 

 birds; sure am I that they would not have fired upon the birds if they 

 had known their value. Lately some woodpeckers have appeared, 

 among them, the little one which scrapes off the eggs as before ob- 

 served. The legislature of New Jersey deserves the greatest praise 

 for its moral courage in facing the prejudice of those who do not 

 know the immense utility of the birds protected by this new law. I 

 wish that th^ prohibition may be extended to the owners of the farms 

 also. Some of these protected birds are among the sweetest songsters 

 of the grove, some of them pour out like the boblink, a deluge of 

 melodious notes. This boblink, is the reed bird of Carolina, the 

 ortolan., &c. We must follow the noble lead of Jersey in this matter. 

 All governments should do so. Encourage the study of entomology 

 f in.<?ects] and that of birds in reference tQ them. The members of this 

 club can do much good by careful attention to the habits of insects, 

 and giving at the meetings faithful statements of what they have dis- 

 covered . If any man shall find out how to protect his own crops, he 

 will be far ahead of others, for we lose three quarters of our cherries 



