L this beautiful bird were more plentiful than it 
is, it would undoubtedly have to be ranked 
among the very worst foes of the gardener, while the farmer, 
also, would have abundant reason for persecuting it. For 
it is extremely fond of peas, systematically robbing pod 
after pod of its contents, not only to satisfy its own 
appetite, but also to feed its hungry young. And later on 
it is a persistent visitor to plum trees, the fruit of which 
it strips of their fleshy covering, in order to split open the 
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