readers of books, which they are learning not to despise
as un- practical. Here is a work which, we are sure, they may study with profit. Take, for instance, this axiom :—" The injury wrought by
the robbery of a grain of corn is far inferior to the benefit con- ferred by the slaughter of a noxious insect." The sparrow is the
illustration of this, and is made the centre of an interesting calculation. A pair of sparrows during the breeding season destroy 22,300 noxious insects. Each noxious insect would have destroyed 100 grains of corn. Each sparrow, therefore, is instru- mental in preserving 1,125,000 grains of corn, a quantity which he certainly does not eat. But are there no mischievous birds ? Yes ; the wood-pigeon, and, we regret to have to write it, the bull- finch. But this charming little creature means well. He is in- tended to be a "pruner and disbudder," and so to prevent an injuriously heavy fruitage. This man does for him, and ea leaves him only mischief to do. The general conclusion is that birds, for the most part, are friends rather than foes to the farmer Buthow about insects ? The list of insect-foes is alarmingly long, that of insect-friends distressingly short. Among them are the glow-worm (we wonder how many of our readers are aware that it lives entirely upon snails), the lady-bird (whose services are handsomely appreciated by mankind, as is shown by the com- plimentary names by which it is known in all European languages), the Hoverer flies, and Ichneumon flies. Nor must frogs, toads, and earth-worms be forgotten.
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