202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



it would he rendered uninhabitable, and man 

 ■would perish from the face of the earth. 



This is no exaggerated supposition, and it is 

 only necessary to watch a few single birds of the 

 insectivorous tribes, to be convinced that the 

 service they perform in the economy of nature is 

 infinite > and that it is impossible to overrate it. 

 Last winter we took occasion frequently to watch 

 the movements of the little chickadees, the most 

 persevering and industrious of all our birds whose 

 services are continued throughout the year. At 

 a distance we could only observe their diligence 

 in examining every part of the trunk and branch- 

 es of the trees, every few seconds pausing to peck 

 at something, and swallowing the living morsel 

 which they had drawn out of its security. One 

 of these birds came nearer to our window, where 

 we saw him diligently searching under the roof of 

 a fence, and in less than half a minute he de- 

 stroyed three chrysalids, eating out the interior 

 of each as readily as a weasel would suck a bird's 

 egg. We have seen the same birds in June, de- 

 stroying quantities of the cocoons of the common 

 caterpillar. If one of these birds destroys three 

 chrysalids in every half minute, how many chrys- 

 alids would a million of the same birds destroy, 

 working ten hours in the day, in the course of 

 three months ? If this be not a fair way of put- 

 ting the question — substitute insects or embryos 

 •for chrysalids, and then the answer to the ques- 

 tion would afford us an idea of the immense ser- 

 vice performed by this single species. 



When we consider that almost every other 

 species is employed during the whole or a part of 

 the year in the same work, how is it possible to 

 make an exaggerated estimate of the number of 

 insects which are consumed by them ? Some 

 idea may be formed of this amount, by the quan- 

 tities which are almost always found in the crops 

 of birds, when they are dissected. In a night- 

 hawk, which was shot by Mr. Gosse, as aftei'- 

 wards examined, the stomach was stuffed with an 

 amazing quantity of insects, consisting chiefly of 

 small beetles. Of the latter alone there were 

 about two hundred. According to an estimate 

 made by Buffon, a pair of sparrows will destroy 

 about 4000 caterpillars weekly while feeding their 

 young. Alexander Wilson ascertained by frequent 

 dissections of the common rod-winged black-bird, 

 that each bird, on an average, devoured about 

 :fifty giub-worms in a day. A single pair, in four 

 months, the usual time they live upon such food, 

 would consume upwards of 12,000, according to 

 this calculation, which is moderate. It is be- 

 lieved that not less than a million pair of these 

 birds are distributed over the United States in 

 summer, whose food being nearly the same, 

 would swell the amount of vermin destroyed by 

 them to twelve thousand millions. In addition 



to these may be reckoned another vast quantity, 

 with which they supply their young, who consume 

 more than the old ones. 



Audubon bears continual testimony to the in- 

 estimable services of birds, in preventing the in- 

 jurious increase of insects. In his description of 

 the cat-bird, he remarks : "The vulgar name, 

 which this species bears, has probably rendered 

 it more conspicuous than it would otherwise be, 

 and has served to bring it into some degree of 

 contempt with persons not the best judges of the 

 benefit it confers on the husbandman in early 

 spring, when, with industrious care, it cleanses 

 his fruit trees of thousands of larvae and insects, 

 which in a single day would destroy, while yet in 

 the bud, far more of his fruit than a cat-bird 

 would eat in a whole season. But, alas ! selfish- 

 ness, the usual attendant of ignorance, not only 

 heaps maledictions on the harmless bird, but 

 dooms it to destruction. The boys pelt it with 

 stones, and destroy its nest whenever an oppor- 

 tunity presents ; the farmer shoots it to save a 

 pear, and the gardener to save a raspberry ; some 

 hate it without knowing why ; in a word, except 

 the poor, nearly extirpated crow, I know no bird 

 so generally despised and tormented as this 

 charming songster." 



The purple Grackle, or crow blackbird, is an- 

 other species against which our farmers enter- 

 tain an inveterate prejudice, because he is a pil- 

 lager of corn. Audubon pleads the cause of this 

 bird in the following language : "No sooner has 

 the cotton or corn-planter begun to turn his land 

 into brown furrows, than crow blackbirds are 

 seen sailing down from the skirts of the woods, 

 alighting in the fields, and following his track, 

 along the ridges of newly-turned earth, picking up 

 the grubs and worms that are turned up with 

 the furrows. He follows the husbandman, as he 

 turns one furrow after another, and destroys a far 

 worse enemy than himself, to the corn ; for every 

 grub which he devours would cut the tender 

 blade, and thus destroy the plant when it would 

 be too late to renew it by fresh seed. Every re- 

 flecting farmer knows this well, and refrains 

 from disturbing the Grackle at this season. Were 

 he as merciful at other times, it would prove his 

 grateful recollection of the services thus rendered 

 him." In harvest time, according to Audubon, 

 the Crackles consume a great deal of corn, be- 

 cause the grubs and worms have retired to their 

 winter quarters, and the beech-nuts have not yet 

 fallen from the trees. IIow ungrateful it seems 

 in man, after receiving incalculable service from 

 certain birds in spring and summer, to shoot 

 them in the autumn for taking a little corn, 

 which is necessary for their subsistence during a 

 few weeks of that season. What should we think 

 of the humanity of a man, who, after receiving 



