244 
Destructive Insects and Utility of Birds. 
the seeds of plantain, wild poppy, burdock, chickweed, groundsel, 
sowthistle, and other noxious weeds. The bullfinch {Pyrrhuld), on 
the contrary, commits depredations amongst blossoms, whilst the 
haw-finch (^Losia locot]iraustes\ despoils cherry-trees to get at 
the kernel of the fruit ; these two last species, however, do not 
often come in our way. 
This rapid survey of the economy of nature is sufficient to con- 
vince us that we have numerous and vigorous auxiliaries always at 
hand to arrest the ever-threatening invasions of insects ; it is our 
duty to aid their increase and employ their energies for the advance- 
ment of agriculture. We must begin then by abstaining from 
shooting useful birds, by favouring their reproduction, and by 
familiarising them with our persons ; bird-netting is an abuse un- 
fortunately too frequently indulged in, but it ought to be banished 
from the vicinity of all cultivated lands, as being extremely detri- 
mental to agriculture. If one only reflects how much the little 
creatures help to enliven our fields and gardens with their gay chir- 
ruping, their fine plumage, their active and lively ways, — and how 
many victims are sacrificed ere one is secured to bear for a few 
short years the imprisonment of the cage, — it is utterly impossible 
to feel any sympathy for bird-catchers. If sport is to extend beyond 
the birds required for our use, — if children find an amusement 
in entrapping the titmouse, the warbler, the nightingale, the 
chaffinch, the lark, the redbreast, — is it not both a sin and a great 
folly ? and will not the inevitable result be the total loss of our 
harvests and fruits? Why should we criminally interfere in the 
Divine organisation of Nature ? why slaughter our firmest allies ? 
Avhy lift our hands against our benefactors and protectors ? If 
woodmen and peasants could be made to understand the immense 
services the cuckoo, the owl, and the woodpecker render to 
mankind, they certainly would protect those valuable servants 
from the senseless destruction they are subjected to. 
The governments of many German States have issued ordinances 
to prevent the indiscriminate slaughter of singing birds ; this very 
good example has been set by Hesse, Baden, Wurtemburg, and 
Prussia. In Saxony a heavy fine is imposed on any person 
found capturing a nightingale, and for every bird kept in a cage 
a tax of 5 thalers (155.) is levied. This law does not extend to 
Saxon duchies, nor the forests of Thuringia, where in every 
village no inhabitant is without his caged songster, and some 
have as many as 30 or 40 different sorts : free nightingales are 
therefore getting scarce there, and insects numerous. Many men 
of sense, such as Lenz of Schrepfenthal, Gloger of Berlin, Schott 
de Schottenstein of Ulm, have zealously employed their talents 
for the protection of small birds, and have further advocated 
attention to their increase. This is an important object which 
