20 ON THE STUDY OP NATURg. 



formances of superior intelligence ; and to suppose 

 that as one step more than we suspected has been 

 explained, so might the rest be rendered equally 

 clear, had we but the capacity to comprehend them. 



In our own country birds are, almost invariably, 

 considered as injurious to the industry of the farmer; 

 they are said to devour his crops, and to destroy at 

 least one half of the fruits of his labour. Little does 

 the farmer suspect, that, were he deprived of these 

 so much detested creatures, but a very small portion 

 of the present produce of the Earth could be brought 

 to perfection. Their manure alone is of very con- 

 siderable value : but all the slender-billed birds, the 

 Lark, Black-bird, Thrush, Red-breast, Goldfinch, 

 Hedge-sparrov/, and many others, live almost entire- 

 ly on insects; and are therefore peculiarly beneficial 

 to him. Even those that devour the grain destroy 

 infinitely more of the noxious insects^ than will com- 

 pensate for any damage they commit. — It has been 

 calculated, with some accuracy, that a single pair of 

 the common Sparrows, while their young are in the 

 nest, destroy on an average above three thousand Ca- 

 terpillars every week. Does the farmer consider 

 this, and yet issue an unlimited edict for their de- 

 struction ? Mankind in general want a proper degree 

 of confidence in that Beino;, who cannot form anv 

 thing in vain : trusting only in their own judgment, 

 which, every moment of their lives they find in er- 

 ror, they impiously censure, only because they can- 

 not understand. 



From all the preceding observations, it appears 

 that Natural History affords us a muck more exten- 



