7734 Birds. 



prey {Accipitres), nearly all of ihem diurnal ;* and in thai of the 

 omnivorons, crows, magpies and jays.f 



" In this general proscription of these two malefactory tribes justice 

 demands that an honourable exception must be made in favour of the 

 common buzzard and the honey buzzard, each individual of which 

 destroys annually about 6000 mice ; % and especial favour must be 

 given to the rook and harvest crow, which render such valuable services 

 in destroying the white worm, and which are easily distinguished from 

 the other crow species by the metallic radiance on their plumage. § 



" Class 2. In the second class must be placed the granivorous 

 birds, or, more correctly, the birds with double alimentation ; 

 for, with the exception of the pigeon, there is not a single bird in this 

 class that is exclusively granivorous ; all feed, according to the seasons, 

 on grain and insects alternately. Detrimental in the first respect, 

 useful in the second, there ought to be, according to M. GeofTroy 

 Saint-Hilaire, a balance drawn between the services which they render 

 and the damage they commit. || Such are sparrows and other 

 finches. M. Florent Prevost and some other naturalists entertain a 

 bolder opinion, and maintain that the good they do far exceeds the 

 mischief, and facts seem to justify the opinion. 



" Of these suspected birds that which bears the worst character is 

 doubtless the sparrow, so often pointed out as an impudent pilferer. 



" Now, if the facts mentioned in the petitions are exact, according 

 to the opinion of many this bird ought to stand much higher than he 

 is reputed. In fact, it is stated that, a price having been set upon his 

 head in Hungary and in Baden, this intelligent proscrit left those 

 countries ; but it was soon discovered that he alone could manfully 

 contend against the cockchaffers and the thousand winged insects of 

 the lowlands, and the very men who offered a price for his destruction 

 offered a still higher price to introduce him again into the country. IT 

 It was a double expense — the ordinary punishment of hasty measures. 

 Frederick the Great also declared war against the sparrows, which 

 did not respect his favourite fruit, the cherry. Naturally the sparrows 

 could not pretend to resist the Conqueror of Austria, and they 



" * There are twenty-seven species of them. 



" t Tschudi, ' Les Insectes Nuisibles et les Oiseaux,' pp. 25 and 26, Paris, 1860 ; 

 Gloger, already quoted. 



" { Tschudi, p. 24 ; Gloger, p. 302. 



" § Gloger, pp. 305 and 307. 



" II Gloger, pp. 314 and 324. Geoffroy Saint- Hiliare, ' Acclimatation,' p. 125. 



" ir M. Marshal, petition No. 152, and M. Duuiast, petition No. 391. 



