UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
thrashers, besides other birds. In one ploughed field 
I saw, day after day, ten or fifteen killdee plovers. 
Their wild cries, their silver sides glancing in the 
sun, and their long powerful wings were always a 
welcome sight and sound. 
Probably more kinds of birds feed on insects than 
upon seeds and fruits, though the seed- and fruit- 
eaters are the more numerous, and abide with us 
more months in the year. It is true also that the 
seed-eaters nearly all eat insects at times, and start 
their young in life upon insect food. One can easily 
see, then, what an inevitable part the birds play in 
keeping down the insect pests that might otherwise 
overwhelm us. 
