( 22 ) 
III. Most of our species of Picus, or Woodpecker, appear to me to be very useful in destroying insects, particularly 
those which injure our forest and orchard-trees. It is true, these birds are sometimes injurious to us, by eating 
some of our finest fruits, particularly our cherries, and therefore pains are taken to expell them from our gardens. 
But they devour vast numbers of insects, particularly some of those species which prove so destructive to the trunk 
of the trees, such as the coleoi)terous insects, which, perhaps, do as much mischief as the caterpillars. 
IV. As a devourer of pernicious insects, one of the most useful birds with which I am acquainted, is the 
House- Wren, or Certhia f amiliaris ? * This little bird seems peculiarly fond of the society of man, and it must be 
confessed, that it is often protected by his interested care. From observing the usefulness of this bird in destroying in- 
sects, it has long been a custom, in many parts of our country, to fix a small box at the end of a long pole in 
gardens, about houses, &c. as a place for it to build in. In these boxes they build and hatch their young. When 
the youug are hatched, the parent birds feed them with a variety of different insects, particularly such as are in- 
jurioas in gardens. One of my friends t was at the trouble to observe the number of times that a pair of these 
birds came from their box, and returned with insects for their young. He found that they did this from forty to 
sixty times in an hour ; and in one particular hour the birds carried food to their young, seventy-one times. In this 
business, they were engaged the greater part of the day ; say twelve hours. Taking the medium, therefore, of fifty 
times an hour, it appeared that a single pair of these birds took from the cabbage, sallad, beans, peas, and' 
other vegetables in the garden, at least six hundred insects in the course of one day. This calculation proceeds 
upon the supposition, that the two birds took each only a single insect each time. But it is highly probable they 
often took several at a time. 
The species of Certhia of which I am speaking generally hatches twice during the course of the summer. They 
are very numerous about Philadelphia, and in other parts of the United-States. 
The fact just related is well calculated to show the importance of attending to the preservation of some of our native 
birds. The esculent vegetables of a whole garden may, perhaps, be preserved from the depredations of differ- 
ent species of insects by ten or fifteen pair of these small birds : and independently of this essential service, they 
are an extremely agreeable companion to man : for their note is pleasing. A gentleman, in the neighbourhood of 
Philadelphia, thinks he has already reaped much advantage from the services of these Wrens. About his fruit-trees, 
he has placed a number of boxes for their nests. In these boxes, they very readily breed, and feed themselves 
and their young with the insects, which are so destructive to the various kinds of fruit-trees, and other vegetables. 
V. The services of the Ibis -n devouring the reptiles of Egypt are well known. They procured to this bird a venera- 
tion and regard which form an interesting fact in its history, and in the history of human superstitions. The 
Storks are, perhaps, not less useful. Pliny tells us, that these birds were so much regarded for destroying ser- 
pents, that in Thessaly, in his age, it was a capital crime to kill them, and that the punishment was the same as 
that for murder. Virgil hints at the usefulness of the stork when he describes it as " longis invisa colubris." 
In Holland, even in our times, they go wild, protected by the government, from a sense of their usefulness in 
the way I have mentioned. 
In Britain, if it were not for the Herons, and some other birds of this tribe, the frogs, the toads, and other rep 
tiles, would increase to so great a degree, as to prove a real nuisance. North-America abounds with birds of 
this order 5 and we even have some species of Ibis, very nearly allied to the Ibis of Egypt, such as the Tantalus 
Loculator, or Wood-Pelecan ; J the Tantalus ruber, or Scarlet Ibis, § the Tantalus fuscus or Brown Ibis, || and 
the Tantalus albus, or White Ibis. ^ Mr. Bartram informs us, that the first of these birds feeds " on serpents, young 
alligators, frogs, and other reptiles."** It is commonly seen "near the banks of great rivers, in vast marshes 
or meadows, especially such as are caused by inundations, and also in the vast deserted Rice plantations." ft This 
bird, both with regard to liis general aspect, and his manners and habits, may be considered as the Ibis of Ame- 
nca. In the midst of all their superstitions, I do not find, however, that the native Americans have ever paid any par^ 
licular regard to this bird. I cannot learn that any of these species of Tantalus have ever been seen in Pennsylvania. 
j 
In the Tables, it is called Certhia familiaris (raihi). t Mr. John Ilcckewelder, of Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. J Wood Ibis of Pennant. 
$ lied Curlew of Cateaby. || Brown Curlew of Catesby. % White Curlew of Catesby. Travels, &c. P. 150. ft Ibid 
