i8 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS 



time when crows were plentiful near by. Almost 

 daily we would hear cries and caws of conflict, and, 

 rushing out, I would watch with delight the flight 

 of the two relatively small gray-and-white birds at 

 one side or directly over the great black crow. They 

 would dart down upon him exactly as one fancies 

 an airplane used to dart down over a. Zeppelin to 

 drop a bomb; and invariably they drove the crow 

 away, sometimes pursuing him out of sight. The 

 king-bird lives largely on an insectivorous diet, and 

 one of his greatest merits is his fondness for rose- 

 bugs. Long live the king-bird! 



So we might continue, if there were space and 

 time, enumerating the various birds and telling of 

 their diet, which almost invariably will be found 

 to consist of insects or vegetable matter injurious 

 to the farm or orchard or garden. Only certain 

 hawks, the starlings, and English sparrows (because 

 they drive away more desirable birds), and to a 

 limited extent the crow, the jay, and one or two more 

 are objectionable. All the rest are of very real and 

 positive service to mankind, capable of returning 

 a money value to the nation conservatively esti- 

 mated at many millions of dollars a year. 



But to render this service they must be en- 

 couraged, not discouraged, and they must be fed 

 and housed when nature fails them. Their greatest 

 need for food, of course, is in winter, or late autumn 

 and early spring, for in summer there is food enough 

 and to spare more now than ever before, with the 

 increase of insect pests. Their greatest need for 

 housing is in those districts which are thickly settled, 

 or becoming so, where the natural cover is cut off 



