E . ww 
Ld 
Birds of Massachusetts. UT. s 
E 
dde 
and, in such cases, there is a right, no doubt, yee 
vent aggressions, if possible. But far more are killed e 
every year by wanton boys, who, without any reason 
but their own pleasure, are permitted to indulge in a 
cruel amusement, from which every man of sense 
and feeling should carefully withhold his children. 
Any one who can find sport in giving pain to animals, 
needs to be taught the first principles of humanity ; 
and, lightly as this matter is regarded, it is certain 
that this thoughtless indulgence always depraves the 
moral feeling more or less, and leads the forma- 
tion of habits of idleness which are not easily broken 
in after years. In a busy country like ours, there 
are few, beyond the age of boy-hood, who have time 
for play ; a civilized man is supposed to find his 
enjoyments in his duties; and if he needs relaxa- 
tion, he can find it without torturing animals, whose 
right to happiness is as good as his own. 
It is, however, in the light of utility, that this 
subject can be most forcibly presented ; and it will 
be seen, that, to exterminate birds which do a little 
harm. occasionally, is to protect ourselves from a 
. small evil at the expense of a greater; it is in fact 
o5 securing the fruit by the sacrifice of the tree. 
"There is no question that we are now suffering 
severely in consequence of this folly. No kind of 
cultivation is affected, to any considerable extent, by 
the depredations of birds, and if it should be, means 
may be devised to prevent them. Not so with the . 
insects and their ravages ; the fate of the locust, the 
apple, the pear, and many other trees, shows, that 
if insects fasten themselves upon one of them, we 
