326 Nature's Militia 



ignominiously defeated, and he had the good sense to 

 own it. The king liked cherries, and the birds liked 

 them too ; and he gave orders that the sparrows should 

 be driven away, exterminated, got rid of. And he was 

 so well obeyed, that in two years' time there was not a 

 sparrow left in the neighbourhood. So far he was the 

 victor, for he had certainly vanquished the birds ; but 

 he had overreached himself, for instead of having more 

 cherries he had none ! 



There were no cherries at all that year ; worse still, 

 there was no fruit of any kind, but in its stead a hideous 

 crop of caterpillars, which had stripped the trees of 

 their leaves. Other birds besides sparrows, of course, 

 eat caterpillars, but the means used to get rid of the 

 sparrows had frightened these others away also. The 

 orchards had been deprived of their guardians, and the 

 enemy had taken possession, and before matters could 

 be set right sparrows had to be imported, at consider- 

 able expense; for they would never, it is said, have 

 returned of their own accord, as they are not given to 

 wandering. 



Take another instance. In Hungary, as elsewhere, 

 sparrows are given to stealing corn, and they were 

 outlawed in consequence. But in a short time it was 

 found that the people were in danger of perishing by 

 famine, owing to the frightful increase of insect-plagues. 

 The decree against the sparrows was hastily revoked, 

 for they, and they only, could keep down the beetles, 

 and the thousand winged insects of the lowlands. 



Then again, in the spring and early summer of 1888, 

 there was an almost unprecedented attack of maggots 

 in the Kentish orchards, and in many cases the nut 

 and apple crops were grievously damaged, if not 



