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swallowed and digested, a few will escape and find 
their way to the livers and brains of the animals, and 
there begin their work of destruction. The wagtail 
affords a great protection, as he is persistently fond 
of marsh snails, and the marsh farmer is his own 
enemy if he destroys the birds.” 
The people of the United States have killed as 
many as 55 million birds in one year; among these, 
the red-headed woodpecker, and what is the conse¬ 
quence? We are told that “in South Carolina, 
upon a track of at least 2,000 acres of forest, go out 
of every 100 trees were killed by the ravages of a 
small bug.” Wilson, the historian of American birds, 
adds, “the woodpecker is the peculiar enemy of 
these destructive creatures ! ” 
In England it is undoubtedly true that the kill¬ 
ing of birds is causing most serious disaster, in the 
increase of injurious insects; also, by the wholesale 
shooting of hawks, owls. &c., there has been such an 
increase of rats and mice in some parts of England 
as to cause little less than a plague. One white owl 
is said to be worth half-a-dozen cats for keeping down 
mice. When man steps in to upset the laws of 
nature and destroy the wondrous equilibrium of the 
animal world he has to pay for it at a heavy cost. 
I need not continue: you see the folly, you see 
the danger, you see the wrong. You must put an 
end to this wanton destruction, for “ the mills of the 
gods, though they grind slowly, grind to powder,” and 
you must suffer ; but alas ! you will not suffer alone, 
your children, and the innocent of all ages will suffer 
with you Will you not say, then, each of you, I will 
not share in this folly? 
III. One charge remains to be stated—that of 
Vulgarity. Censure on any other ground may be 
endured, but every lady with a bird on her head will 
resent this. Yet is it not deserved ? Upon what 
are all true laws of art founded ? Surely, upon 
nature. Your highest work of beauty lies in its 
