395 
song ; their tongues seem better calculated for extracting noxious insects from the 
bark of trees, than for trilling out sprightly airs ; as the hardened hands of the 
hasbandman are better suited for clearing the forest or guiding the plow, than 
dancing among the keys of a forte piano. Which of the two is the more honor- 
able and useful employment is not d fficult to determine. Let the farmer, there- 
fore, respect this little bird for its useful qualities in clearing his fruit and forest 
trees from destructive insects, though it cannot serenade him with its song.” 
Of warblers, there are between thirty and forty varieties, but most of them are 
insectivorous, and all sma'l and haimless. One of these varieties is called the 
“ worm-eatiDg” warbler, and is thus spoken of by Wilson : 
“ This bird is remarkably fond of spiders, darting about whenever there is a 
probability of finding these insects. If there be a branch broken and leaves 
withered, it shoots among them in preference to every other part of the tree, 
making great rustling in search of its prey. I have often watched its manoeuvres 
while thus engaged, and flying from tree to tree in search of such places. On 
dissection, I have uniformly found their stomachs filled with spiders or caterpil- 
lars, or both.” 
The class of birds known as finches is numerous ; their plumage is beautiful, 
and they have no mischievous habits. They are not, however, insectivorous, but 
feed on the seeds of lettuce, alder and thistle. All who have ever thumbed the 
old American spelling-book of Noah Webster, well remember Cowper’s fine de- 
scription of one of this cl; ss of birds in the lines, “ On a goldfinch starved to 
death in his cage” : — 
“Time was when I was free as air, 
The thistle’s downy Beed my fare, 
My drink the rnornirg dew ; 
I perched at will on every spray, 
My form genteel, my plumage gay, 
My strains forever new.” 
The committee, acting on the petition of the Madison Farmer’s Club, and many 
)ther agriculturists, recommends that the quail or Virginia partridge be pro- 
moted at all seasons of the year. The ground of this suggestion is, not that these 
rirds may be exclusively taken by the owners of the soil, but because they are 
ound to be amoDg the most useful of our insectivorous birds, and very destruc- 
ive to the pests which prey upon the grain crops. 
Speaking of this bird, Mudie lays down the general rule “ that all birds that 
eed upon the ground live almost exclusively upon insects, when they are young, 
nd at all periods of their lives prefer insects to any other food;” and then pro- 
eeds thus : 
“ The partridge follows the march of civilization ; it multiplies exceedingly, and 
I 
