9 
have that ever touches apples ; but if it can get beechnuts or acorns the'orchard 
will not suffer. In any case the good it does as an insect destroyer will outweigh 
any injury. It is a familiar bird, coming near our houses where it shows itself 
more than a match for the English sparrows; “conspicuous with its gay tri-color 
plumage, and a great genius, no less brilliant and versatile in character than in 
plumage.” 
The birds that are with most justice accused of injury to agriculture are our 
crow, blackbird and marsh blackbird, but this is to corn and grain and not to fruit. 
I will, therefore, not dwell on them here except to say that they all have many ex¬ 
cellent qualities, for the greater part of the year they are positively beneficial, 
cases of serious loss are local, and in most districts the good they do will be worth 
all the corn they take. 
There is indeed only one bird commonly seen about our orchards that could 
well be spared. I refer to the English sparrow. It is a bold aggressive bird, at 
home everywhere, adapting itself to its surroundings eating a little of everything. 
It has been accused of many high crimes and misdemeanors. No bird ever had 
such a thorough and impartial trial. It is out of the question for me to give even 
a summary of the evidence, I must refer you to the voluminous reports of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture; but the verdict has been pronounced and is—guilty. The 
harm it does outweighs the good. 
You will see by this time that the question of profit or loss is by no means 
an eas}' one, even with a pretty thorough knowledge of what the bird usually eats. 
Nearly all birds are more or less omnivorous and the food will vary with the lo¬ 
cality and the season; in short it will depend chiefly on the kind of food the bird 
can obtain. 
This brings us to an important point that must not be overlooked. It is well 
known that the principal injuries done by insects are due to a species, or several 
species, existing for a time in a given locality in numbers far above the average. 
When such an increase is very marked the papers herald the news over the whole 
country, but it is certain that such oscillations in the insect population are con¬ 
stantly going on. To check these before they have reached a dangerous magnituder 
. 8 one of the chief duties of the birds. The appreciate the numbers of a particula 
insect long before we do and take advantage of the supply of food thus offered. In 
this way many an increase of an injurious species is checked in its inception. 
Those whose habits are otherwise very different assist in this work. In the orch¬ 
ard before mentioned, infested by canker worms, birds were unusually abundant 
and those of the most varied character and habit were feeding on the worms; thirty- 
five per cent, of all their food consisted of this single species. During a recent 
plague of Rocky Mountain locusts in the West it was found that practically every 
bird of the region was feeding upon them. 
While nearly every bird will pitch in and help when danger threatens, yet 
in ordinary times each has its place and a particular duty to perform. The ground 
is dug, wood is chiseled, fields are patrolled, weed patches are searched, trees, from 
the gnarled trunk to the tips of the most slender branches, are explored ; a host of 
skirmishers sweep the air. The endless variety, in size and shape, form of bill and 
length of wing, has a deep meaning for us. We have many kinds of birds because 
there are many different things for them to do. It is questionable if one of the 
three hundred species found in Illinois could become extinct and a marked effect 
not be produced on the abundance of some other form of life ; though we might 
