492 CLASS AVES. 



of myriads into existence ? To that principle which is itself the 

 perpetual well-spring of all life, and in which, universal crea- 

 tion lives , and moves, and has its being ? 



We cannot do better here than avail ourselves of the 

 picture drawn by the eloquent naturalist of France, of the 

 advantages derived to man, from all the insectivorous races of 

 the feathered kingdom. 



'^Without them, without their assistance, vain would be the 

 efforts of man to destroy or banish the clouds of flying insects 

 by which he would be assailed. Innumerable in quantity and 

 rapid in generation, they would invade our dominions, fill the air, 

 and devastate the earth, did not the birds restore the equilibrium 

 of living nature, by the destruction of her superfluous products. 

 The greatest inconvenience of warm climates is the continual 

 torment caused there by the insect tribes. Man and the qua- 

 drupeds cannot defend themselves against them. They attack 

 with their stings ; they oppose the progress of cultivation, and 

 devour the useful productions of the earth. They infest with 

 their excrements or their eggs, aU the provisions which are 

 necessary to be preserved. Thus we find that the beneficent 

 birds are not even sufficiently numerous in such climates, where, 

 nevertheless, their species are by far the most multiplied. 

 How happens it, that in our temperate climates we are more 

 tormented with the flies in the commencement of autumn, 

 than in the middle of summer.? Why in the fine days of 

 October do we see the air filled with myriads of gnats .'* Be- 

 cause all the insectivorous birds, such as swallows, nightingales, 

 warblers, &c., have deserted us. This short lapse of time, 

 during which they have too prematurely abandoned our 

 climate, is sufficient to cause us to be more incommoded with 

 the multitude of insects, than at any other season. What 

 then must be the consequence, if, from the moment of their 

 arrival ; if, during the entire summer ; if, in short, for the whole 

 time of their sojournment among us, we continue to make their 

 destruction a source of amusement .'"' 



