BIRDS AND THEIR FRIENDS. 
447 
Flycatcher; and when the hedges have donned their 
verdant coat, then the Whitethroat and Nightingale make 
their appearance. Sparrows, Buntings, Goldfinches, Tit¬ 
mice, Treecreepers, and Wrens, also cannot do without 
our company in the winter season. 
I look upon it as an impossibility for any one, 
possessing a rightly-constituted mind, to regard birds 
with feelings of indifference; and if they are carefully 
watched, it is not difficult to recognize the good they 
do to man. We cannot avoid noticing the Stork, as 
he walks gravely up and down the fields and meadows, 
carefully examining every plant, and ever gathering 
something which is not part and parcel of the growth; 
we must see that the Starling is equally active in 
the garden, and but rarely breaks off a lettuce leaf; 
and we learn by experience that the fruit-trees 
which bear the most fruit are exactly those which 
Chaffinch, Whitethroat, Wryneck, Warbler, and Tree- 
creeper, most love to frequent, and which receive their 
most assiduous attentions. If, based on the above 
observations, we feel any desire to extend the range of 
our enquiries, and make ourselves acquainted with the 
experiences of others, and to make a study of such 
matters, watching carefully the ways and doings of our 
feathered friends, we are sure to find that but very few 
birds are obnoxious to man's interests, and that an 
immense number are, on the contrary, of the greatest 
possible use to him; aye! and we shall soon become 
thoroughly convinced that the bird is a link, and a most 
important one, too, in the chain of creation; one, indeed, 
which we could but ill spare, for were there no small 
birds it is doubtful if we should be able to live. Such 
knowledge, in my opinion, cannot but suffice to affect the 
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