POULTRY RAISING.—NO. 7. 
307 
ripe, and dives into the choicest and best-grown 
apples of your orchard. In compensation, he 
gives you no song, and his destruction of ground 
worms is quite doubtful. Suppose he does now 
and then take a stray caterpillar from your 
trees which your own want of early attention 
has tolerated, it is but a lame apology for your 
negligence, that has suffered the vermin to fat¬ 
ten on your best foliage for the said wood¬ 
pecker’s benefit. This bird is another excep¬ 
tion, and I would not harbor him. 
Next in our catalogue stands the cedar bird, 
or cherry bird, as he is more commonly called in 
the country. He is a pert, natty, sleek, little, 
drab-coated fellow, with no song but a solitary 
p-e-e-p-e about him, and scarce ever at hand ex¬ 
cept when your cherries are ripe, and then he 
comes from nobody knows w T here, in myri¬ 
ads for their destruction. That accomplished, 
he is off again until your next year’s cherry 
harvest. They have one good quality, however, 
and that is for the table. They are a good eat¬ 
ing bird, and for that purpose just as good game 
as . woodcock, or a wild duck, which no one 
thinks it wrong, although they do no harm, to 
destroy. Cedar birds, therefore, are fair game, 
and justifiably so; for, in permitting them to 
harbor about us we loose our cherries, and of 
course our labor and profits. 
The common robin, or red-bellied thrush, of 
our country has so many kind and social qual¬ 
ities about him that, although something of a 
cherry trespasser, he is entitled to our friend¬ 
ship and toleration—even our affection. His 
song is sweet. He cheers us with the earliest 
melody of the season, when the spring breaks 
upon us, and with the bluebird, and song spar¬ 
row, is one of the welcomest heralds of the 
budding year. Late, too, in autumn, when the 
November winds are moaning in the naked 
branches of our trees, he reluctantly leaves us 
to the sad cheerlessness of winter, and even 
then oftimes lingers till the deep snows drive 
him to a warmer climate. An additional cherry 
tree or two will amply compensate the toll that ' 
he exacts as his compensation for the myriads • 
of insects and worms that he takes from our 
grounds, and in the main account, he does us 
much more good than evil. Therefore, save the 
robins. 
Another bird or two, as the kingbird and 
blackbird, might be named, which arc some¬ 
what doubtful in character. The one is ac¬ 
cused of destroying our bees, and the other of 
preying upon our barley and oat fields. But 
they are great exterminators, also, of noxious 
insects; and it does my heart so much good to 
see their implacable hatred of the crow and 
other foul birds, which they frequently drive 
away from the premises, that we gladly excuse 
their little peccadillos upon our treasure, for 
their valuable labors in that line. 
To sum up the matter—save the robins, the 
blackbirds and kingbirds; but wage war, unre¬ 
lenting war, upon the crow; let the boys prac¬ 
tise their shooting irons on the red-headed wood¬ 
peckers, and fricassee, or pot-pie the cedar 
birds with all possible dispatch. L. F. Allen. 
-—:-—o —-- 
POULTRY RAISING.—No. 7. 
In regard to the’best laying fowls, I have just 
received a letter from a friend in Rhode Island, 
one of the best breeders in this country, who 
says: “I keep 45 distinct and pure breeds of 
domestic and aquatic fowls, nearly all of which 
I have imported at a great expense. I have 
been a fancier and breeder 35 years, and have 
had all known varieties of domestic poultry; 
and should a friend ask me which breed I have 
found best for profit, in all candor, I should say, 
if your object is eggs, then by all means keep 
the black Spanish.” 
Now, a statement like the above, from a gen¬ 
tleman who rears fowls for his own amusement, 
not for profit, as he writes me, having no inter¬ 
est in saying anything but the truth, I consider 
highly important. I had already formed a high 
opinion of the black Spanish fowl, from the 
universal good opinion of them by almost every 
writer, and had taken measures to secure a fine 
selection, as well as of white Dorkings and one 
or two other breeds, that I have every reason to 
believe are not humbugs. I have no “hen fe¬ 
ver,” but when evidence comes to me in an 
overwhelming shape, that certain breeds of 
fowls are valuable, I shall be willing to give 
them a trial. Gentlemen interested in this mat¬ 
ter may rely upon receiving through me, in this 
paper, nothing but what may be depended on, 
as a candid exposition on the subject—unprej¬ 
udiced and uninfluenced by interest in any 
form. 
By the way, what is the matter with “ Re¬ 
viewer?” He hopes all poultry essays will 
“have their necks wrung,” &c. Now, I am 
afraid that this old cock has been sadly hen¬ 
pecked lately, since he seems to crow less melo¬ 
diously than formerly, and he spurs both friend 
and foe; frequently pecking awful flaws in the 
logic of your correspondents. Can it be that 
the great breeder is about consigning him to 
