194 PROTECTION OF 13IRDS IN NEWTON. 



of those shots, for from that time many birds left, but the 

 finishing stroke to work of driving the birds away was no 

 doubt done by a few boys who, eager to get the first burs 

 from chestnut trees in the woods, remained there so late as 

 to keep away what remaining birds attempted to come there. 



Now, aside from any sentimental point of view, the driving 

 away of these birds is truly deplorable and becomes an act- 

 ual loss to the citizens of Newton. We know that thous- 

 ands cf dollars worth of damage are done yearly to our 

 gardens and lawns by insects, and we also know that birds 

 are insect destroyers. 



We have only to glance today at our lawns and note 

 the damage which is now being done to them by the larvae 

 of the June Beetle, to s,ee what a pest insects can be- 

 come. A field near the bird roost is infested bv these 

 grubs, and one night, as I stood near it with some mem- 

 bers of my class, watching the birds, I called attention 

 to the fact that this particular field was covered with 

 robins. There must have been a dozen of these birds 

 to a square rod, and each' bird was busy in digging up 

 the grub of the June beetle. How many insects were 

 destroyed there I will not attempt to estimate, but the 

 number must have been large in that short time. Re- 

 ports from other places in Newton by members of the 

 chapter show that the grackles are foremost in destroy- 

 ing these £rubs, alighting on the lawns in lar«e flocks 

 for the purpose of digging them up. 



Now then, with these facts before us, let us glance 

 at what has occurred. In order that two boys might 

 follow out that, brutal instinct which prompts so many 

 to the desire to kill something weaker than themselves, 

 thousands of useful birds have been driven out of the 

 roost, and probably wholly from the city, and this work 



