The Mission Of The Birds

The swallow, swift ana mgntnawK are the guardians of the atmopphere. They check the increase of insects tliat otherwise would overload it. Woodpeckers, creepers and ehiekadees are the guardians of the trunks of trees. Warblers and üy-catchers protect the foliage. Blackbirds, crows, thrushes and íarks protect the surf ace of the soil. Snipe and woodcock protect the BCil under the surface. Each tribe luis its respective duties to perform in the economy of nature ; and it is an undoubted fact that, if the birds were all swept off the face of the earth, man could not live upon it: vegetation would wither and die; insects would beconie so numerous that no living tliing could withstand their attacks. Tlie wholesale destruction occasioned by grasshopi)ers, which have lately devastatedthe West,is undoubtely caused l)y the thinning of the b;rds, such as grouse, prairie hens etc., which feed uponlthem. The greati inestimable service done to the farmer, gardener, and florist by the birds is only becomIng known by sad experience. Spare tho birds and save your fruit; the little corn and fruit taken by them is more than compensated for by the quantities of noxious insects they destroy. The long persecuted crow, has been f ound, by actual experienee, to do more good by the vast quantities of grubs and insects he devours, than the harni he does by the few hills of corn he pulls up. He is one of the farmer's best friends.