206 
good garden; and ftill miore fo (as its im- 
portance is greater) to thofe who are en- 
gaged in agriculture. I apprehend, there- 
fore, that you will readily admit) a few 
further remarks, which may be of ufe to 
decide what feems to be not fully re- 
garded. 
Mr. Bradley, in fome of his writings, 
mentions a perion whofe curiofity led him 
to watch a couple of birds, who had a nett 
of young ones, for one hour :—they went 
out and returned continually, bringing 
every time a caterpillar back to their 
young. He counted the journies they 
took, and calculated that that one nett 
could not confume lefs than sooo in the 
courfe of a day. I-thought this feemed 
to bé an extravagant number to fuppofe ; 
‘but, on confidering how little room cater- 
pillars require, how foft is their fubftance, 
and how quick is the digeftion of birds, 
I was fully fatisfied as to that point. _ 
Dr. Lettfom thinks that the common 
obfervation, that a fevere froft deftroys 
grubs, infeéts, &c. may be erroneous. I 
rather wonder at his fuppofition, and can- 
not think with him. For when we confi- 
der that it is the nature of froft to /avell all. 
fiuids, and to defiroy all tenacity, how can 
we fuppofe, that any principle of vitality 
_ can remain in any animal body which 
has been entirely frozen through its fub- 
fiance? Its veffels muft have been all 
broken, bythe enlargement of the contain- 
ed fluids ; and the body therefore prepared 
for immediate putrid diffolution, when a 
thaw comes. “Thofe grubs only, which 
have retired to a greater depth in the 
earth than the froft reaches, can remain. I 
remember a fact full to this point :—A 
gentleman in the county of Effex affured 
me, in the latter end of the year 1795, 
that the fevere froft of the former winter 
had done immenfe fervice to the farmers on 
his eftates ; for that, previous to that time, 
they had been for feveral years fo infefted 
with grubs, that their'wheat crops fuffered 
moft feverely, and they had been frequent-- 
ly ebliged to repeat their wheat-fowing in 
the fpring, or to fow fome cther crops 
where the wheat had been deftroyed ; but 
after that froft, he faid, the evil was re- 
moved. 
Tt has, been fuppofed that tom-tits, and 
forme other birds, injure the bloffloms of 
fruit-trees in the fpring: I have watched 
themcompletely, and have been convinced, 
that the fact is the contrary ; and that 
when they are feen to peck at the blof- 
foms, as is generally thought, they are 
fna:ching an infe&t out of its retreat. Yet. 
if they did feed on bioffoms, I fee not 
‘Utility of Birds. 
April, 
_ what injury they could do,for the trees pro- 
duce millions more than can poffibly fet 
and ripen into fruit; fo that, if they did not 
naturaily perifh and fall, they muft be 
picked off in multitudes, or no fruit could 
be had. - . 
I fufpeG the. carrion-crow to be EN- 
TIRELY carnivorous, and I rather. believe 
the fame of the rook ; for thefe birds may 
be always feen to fettle; in great numbers, 
on a fref/h-ploughed field before it ts fown. 
Your correipondent Varro confiders pi- 
geons as very mifchievous, becaufe they 
are entirely-granivorous ; but animals of 
this defcription may be alfo very fervice-, 
able, inafmuch as they confume immenfe 
quantities of feeds of weeds, which.would 
otherwife prove a terrible plague to the | 
farmer, coft him a large expence, and 
perhaps puzzle his diligence to eradicate 
them. ‘There is a paper in the Mufeum 
Rufticum, vol. ii. p. 255,-giving an ac- 
count, that the farmers at Tuxford, in 
Nofttinghamfhire, had deftroyed their pi- 
geons; and afterwards found, that with- 
out thefe birds they could get no crops of 
wheat. The foil was full of the feeds of. 
ketlocks, which overfhot and deftroyed their 
corn. ‘The pigeons preferred thefe feeds 
to any corn whatever, and the farmers 
were obliged to re-people their courts. 
The ufefulnefs of domeftic poultry is 
fully eftablifhed, from the fuecefs attend- 
ing the experiment which Dr. Lettfom.- 
mentions to have been made at Norfolk 
Ifland. It is plain, therefore, contrary 
to the fuppofition of Varro, that they wll 
take the trouble of looking after infeéts. 
Turkeys will leave any thing for the feeds 
of nettles, and will always thrive where 
nettles grow abundantly. The Guinea- 
fowl, which feems to be a fpecies of the 
Turkey, is probably of the fame difpofi- 
tion. ot, 
Varro juftly fuppofes ducks to be very 
ferviceable, if flocks of them were turned 
in upon young corn, or among turnips ; 
bnt the number muft be great to do any 
extenfive fervice. They are not fo bene- 
ficial in a garden, for they will take liber- 
ties with the ftrawberries; and I have had 
the hearts of my endive and lettuces picked 
out by them, in order to get at the little 
red worms which are apt to harbour there. 
The common plover or pee-wit feems 
fitter for gardens than the duck ;. becaufe 
its long fharp bill can take the worms 
without injuring the plants, which the 
broad round bill of the duck cannot. fo 
well do; and thefe birds have -no tafe for 
ftrawberries ; they may therefore be fafely 
trufed, 
4 Upon 
