Preface 
M, object in the following pages is merely to 
give a very brief account of some of those 
birds which are useful, or the reverse, to farmers and gardeners. 
It is seldom possible, of course, to give an exact estimate 
of their value. In many cases they are useful in some ways, 
but mischievous in others. But it must be remembered that 
while the damage which they do is generally evident enough, 
their services are very easily overlooked. It should also 
be noted that, while a gooseberry stolen or a grain of corn 
devoured is a gooseberry or a grain of corn lost, and no 
more, an insect devoured would probably have been the 
progenitor of a very large number of grubs or caterpillars. 
Not more than two or three of our birds are wholly 
injurious ; many are entirely beneficial. And most of the 
remainder, if not neutral, do a great deal more good than 
harm. 
THEODORE Woop. 
Xvi 
