The Wire-Worm 
111 
the light of day, and while many are thus, 
because immature, destroyed by the very 
act of exposure, they are also readily 
preyed upon by many birds which are only 
too ready to snap them up. Unfortunately, 
the farmer from want of knowledge fails 
to recognise his best friends. Thus in a 
field where wire-worms have been par- 
ticularly busy, I have noticed large flocks 
of starlings congregating, and even marked 
the fact that in a spot where the worms 
were most busy the birds were thickest. 
The farmer believing that the birds had 
come to attack his crop comes out armed 
with his gun and kills scores of these 
little friends who had come to do him a 
service. The starling will eat corn, but 
he much prefers a meat meal, and where he 
can get at the click beetle and her family, 
he will not trouble much about a change of 
diet. When we consider all the damage 
that these little fellows are capable of 
doing and how little the brains and wealth 
of man have been able to accomplish in 
putting an end to their depredations, we see 
before us an immense field of opportunity 
for someone to rise to distinction. 
