284 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



only indebted to insects for some of his best baits, but 

 also for the best material to fasten his hooks to, and even 

 for making his lines for smaller fish — the Indian grass or 

 gut as it is called, (termed in France Cheveux de Florence,) 

 which is said to be prepared in China from the matter con- 

 tained in the silk reservoirs of the silk-worm, but accord- 

 ing to Latreille is the silk vessel itself when dried a . 



One of the most important ends for which insects were 

 gifted with such powers of multiplication, giving birth to 

 myriads of myriads of individuals, was to furnish the fea- 

 thered part of the creation with a sufficient supply of 

 food. The number of birds that derive the whole or a 

 principal part of their subsistence from insects is, as is 

 universally known, very great, and includes species of 

 almost every order. 



Amongst the Accipitres the kestril (Falco Tinnuncu- 

 lus, L.) devours abundance of insects. A friend of mine, 

 upon opening one found its stomach full of the remains 

 of grasshoppers and beetles, particularly the former, 

 which he suspects constitute great part of the food of 

 this species. One of the shrikes, also, or butcher-birds 

 (Lanius Collurio) — and it is probable that other species 

 of this numerous genus may have the same habits — is 

 known to feed upon insects, which it first impales alive 

 on the thorns of the sloe and other spinous plants, and 

 then devours. If meat be given it, when kept in a cage, 

 it will fix it upon the wires before it eats it La?iius Ex~ 

 ciibitor also impales insects, but Heckewelder denies that 

 it feeds upon them. If he be correct, the object of this 



a Anderson's Recreations in AgricuU. $c, iv, 478. Latr. Hist. Nafc 

 xv: 154. 



