THE FARMER'S HELPERS 345 



to agriculture. They divide' among themselves the 

 work to be done in field and hedge, meadow and gar- 

 den, forest and orchard, and wage unceasing war- 

 fare on every species of vermin, a terrible tribe that 

 would destroy our crops were not more vigilant 

 guardians than we continually on the watch — guard- 

 ians of far greater adroitness, of sharper eyesight, 

 of more lasting patience in their endless quest, and 

 having nothing else to do. I am not exaggerating, 

 my little friends ; without insect-eating birds famine 

 would decimate us. Who then, unless he be an idiot 

 with a mania for destruction, would dare touch the 

 nests of birds that enliven the country with their 

 plumage and deliver us from the devouring scourge 

 of insects ? But there are, nevertheless, bloodthirsty 

 gamins who, if they can manage to elude the school- 

 master and play truant, find it a joyous pastime to 

 climb trees and explore hedges in order to rob birds' 

 nests and slaughter the young. These good-for- 

 nothings are under the surveillance of the rural 

 guard and liable to the utmost rigors of the law, to 

 the end that our crops may still be protected by the 

 birds and that our fields and orchards may continue 

 to yield sheaves of grain and baskets of fruit. 



"Let us add a few words on the mode of life of 

 these indispensable collaborators. The bat feeds 

 exclusively on insects, anything in that class serving 

 its purpose, — beetles with hard wing-sheaths, spin- 

 dle-shanked mosquitoes, graceful butterflies, plump- 

 bellied moths of all kinds, such as make havoc of our 

 cereals, vineyards, fruit trees and woolen stuffs, and 



