VALUE OF BIRDS. 
O WE often think how much we owe 
to these little friends? How much 
sweet music they bring into our lives? 
ol With what beauty and grace they de- 
light our eyes? 
ing be lost if their glad notes were 
silent? Would not the burdens of 
noonday seem heavier if no bird 
voice cheered us? And the evening shadows fall 
darker and sadder if they sang us no good-night melo- 
dies? 
Before the crocus and the violet come to tell us of 
spring, the Bluebird and the Cardinal are here clothed 
in brilliant hues, bright harbingers of nature’s resur- 
rection. Be 
make life possible by the destruction of nox- 
ious insects. Michelet says that in the hot 
climates life would be made intolerable by 
the myriads of insects that swarm there, if 
the birds did not keep them in check. . ® 
Vegetation everywhere would suffer @5q —& 
from grubs and worms if there were no oS i 
birds; yet in return for all these benefits 
