FACTS THAT PROVE THE UTILITY OF BIRDS. 417 



had in its larva state penetrated into the wood. Wher- 

 ever a bough of fir or pine was broken, the larva was 

 found, and had often hollowed it out even to the bark. 

 The report of the naturalists declared that the extraordi- 

 nary increase of this insect was owing to the entire dis- 

 appearance of several species of titmouse, which for some 

 years past had not been seen in that region. 



According to an account given by Buffon, the Isle of 

 Bourbon, where there were no grackles, was overrun with 

 locusts imported in the eggs contained in the soil which 

 with some plants had been brought from Madagascar. 

 The Governor-General, as a means of extirpating these 

 insects, caused several pairs of Indian grackles to be 

 brought into the island. When the birds had considera- 

 bly increased, some of the colonists, seeing them very dili- 

 gent in the newly sown fields, imagined them in quest of 

 the grain, and reported that they did more mischief than 

 good. Accordingly they were proscribed by the Council, 

 and in two hours after their 'sentence was pronounced, 

 not a grackle was to be seen on the island. The people 

 soon had cause for repentance. The locusts multiplied 

 without check and became a pest. After a few years of 

 experience, the grackles were again introduced, and their 

 breeding and preservation were made a state affair. The 

 birds multiplied and the locusts disappeared. 



Kalm, a pupil of Linnaeus, remarks in his " Travels in 

 America," that after a great destruction of purple grackles 

 for the legal reward of threepence per dozen, the Northern 

 States in 1749 experienced a total loss of the grain and 

 grass crops from the devastation of insects and their larva. 

 The crows of North America were some years since so 

 nearly exterminated, to obtain the premiums offered for 

 their heads, that the increase of insects was alarming, and 

 the States were obliged to offer bounties for the protec- 

 tion of crows. The same incidents have repeatedly hap- 



