FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



devourer of grain. He robs our dove-cotes and poul- 

 try-yards, steals their food from the pigeons and 

 the hens, and anticipates the farmer in reaping the 

 grain-crops near his house. Many other misdeeds 

 are to be reckoned against him. He plunders the 

 cherry-trees, commits petty larceny in the garden, 

 plucks up sprouting seeds, and regales himself on 

 young lettuce and the first leaves of green peas. But 

 as soon as the season of insect-eggs opens, this 

 shameless pilferer becomes one of our most valuable 

 helpers. Twenty times an hour, at least, the mother 

 and the father take turns in bringing the beakful 

 of food to their little ones ; and each time the bill of 

 fare consists of a caterpillar, or an insect large 

 enough to be divided into quarters, or perhaps a fat 

 larva, or it may be a grasshopper, or some other kind 

 of small game. 



"In one week the young brood consumes about 

 three thousand insects, larvae, caterpillars and worms 

 of all species. There have been counted in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of a single nest of sparrows the re- 

 mains of seven hundred June-bugs, besides those of 

 innumerable smaller insects. That is the supply of 

 food required for rearing only one brood. Let us 

 then, my children, wish well to all the little birds 

 that deliver us from that formidable ravager, the 

 insect." 



