were feeding on; for I did not at all fall into my friend's idea that they were grazing on his clover. By watching in their line of flight from the field to the woods, and sending a man round to drive them off the clover, I managed to kill eight of the birds as they flew over my head.

I took them to his house, and we opened their crops to see what was in them. Every pigeon's crop was as full as it could possibly be of the seeds of two of the worst weeds in the country-the wild mustard and the ragweed, which they had found lying on the surface of the ground, as these plants ripen and drop their seeds before the corn is cut.

Now, no amount of human labour and search could have collected on the same ground, at that time of the year, as much of these seeds as was consumed by each of these five or six hundred wood-pigeons daily, for two or three weeks together. Indeed, during the whole of the summer and spring, and a great part of the winter, all pigeons must feed entirely on the seeds of different wild plants, as no grain is to be got by these soft-billed birds, except just after the sowing time, and when the corn is nearly ripe, or for a short time after it is cut. It would be unfair not to make allowance for so many advantages.

II.

The grub of the cockchafer commits great ravages both upon grass and corn, by gnawing the roots of the plant. Entire meadows are sometimes denuded

by it. The rook eats these destroyers by thousands, and by one act gets food for himself, and protects the wheat which is the staff of life to man. They are the grubs which chiefly attract him to follow the plough; and when he plucks up a blade of grass or corn, it is almost invariably for the sake of some description of worm which is preying on the root. The plant which he eradicates will be found on examination to be dead or dying; and by devouring the cause of the mischief, he saves the rest of the field from blight.

Unobservant farmers, who never look beyond the surface, often mistake the policeman for the thief. Luckily, their power to injure their benefactor is not equal to their will, or they would exterminate him altogether, and leave the depredator unmolested to consume the whole of the crop. When an unhappy success has attended efforts of this kind, the evil consequences have been signal and immediate.

After the inhabitants had attempted to extirpate the little crow from Virginia at an enormous expense, they would gladly have given twice as much to buy back the tribe. A reward of threepence per dozen was offered in New England for the "purple grackle," which commits great havoc among the crops, but protects so much more herbage than he destroys, that the insects, when he was gone, caused the total loss of the harvest, and obliged the colonists to get grass from Pennsylvania, and even to import it from Great Britain.

A few years since, an act was passed in France to

prohibit the destruction of small birds. In a particular district of France, the harvest being swept away in its finest green stage by millions of hungry reapers, the earth had ceased to yield its increase.

Extensive inroads like these upon the economy of nature reveal to us its wisdom, and show that if, on the one hand, it is a blessing that particular animals should eat, on the other hand, it is a benefit to the world that they should be eaten. A flight of rooks render more service than all the cultivators of the soil put together; and if the poor birds are occasionally mischievous, they are richly worthy of their hire. Make the largest possible allowance for their consumption of a portion of that crop, the whole of which they preserve, they are still the cheapest labourers employed on a farm.

Pages would be required to tell the mistakes committed in the blind rage for destruction, and in the readiness of the lords of creation to believe that everything that takes what he takes is a rival and a loss. Even wasps, which find no friend, chiefly because they are armed with a sting, though, unlike man, they rarely or ever use it unprovoked, are an important aid in keeping certain tribes within bounds. For the food brought in by them is chiefly caterpillars and insects.

In France, the butchers are very glad to have the wasps attend their stalls for the sake of their services in driving away the flesh fly; and it is said the farmers in some parts of the United States are so well aware of their utility in this respect, as to

hang in their sitting-rooms a hornet's nest, the occupants of which prey on the flies without molesting the family.

SUMMARY.-Wild birds are of much use to men by destroying noxious weeds and eating the insects which destroy the crops. The grub of the cockchafer destroys the roots of both grass and corn. Rooks save the crops by eating these grubs. In New England the destruction of wild birds at one time caused the total loss of the harvest. Even wasps are useful in destroying caterpillars and insects. In some parts of the United States the farmers hang in their sitting-rooms a hornet's nest, the occupants of which prey upon the flies.

QUESTIONS.

How are wood-pigeons useful to the farmer? Because they destroy weeds by eating the seeds. What is a cockchafer? A kind of beetle. It first comes out of the egg in the form of a small grub or maggot, which feeds upon the root of whatever vegetable it happens to be nearest. It continues in the worm state for more than three years, devouring and destroying the roots of plants. In the fourth year it buries itself in the earth, and assumes the form of a chrysalis, from which about three months afterwards it comes out a winged insect. What was the consequence of destroying wild birds in America? of insects caused the total loss of the harvest. Are use? Yes, they destroy caterpillars and insects. butchers in France glad to have wasps on their stalls? Because wasps drive away the flesh-fly, which destroys the meat. What is a hornet? A kind of wasp an inch in length. It builds in hollow trees. It is very voracious, devouring other insects.

The ravages wasps of any Why are the

Merged,

HOUSE OF HANOVER (2).

GEORGE II.-1727-1760.

(Continued.)

DERIVATION.

Lat., mergo, mersum, merge.

Espoused, Lat., spondeo sponsus, promised solemnly.

Sustained,

Lat., sustineo, to support,
bear.

Tranquillity, Fr., tranquille, quiet. Lat.,
tranquillitas, tranquillity.
Sans., tiras, beyond, and
kali, discord.

Opposition, Lat., oppositio, opposition.

MEANING.

Immersed; swallowed up or
lost.

A promise given to main-
tain a cause.
Borne, endured.

Freedom from strife; peace.

Act of opposing or resisting;
resistance.
Lowering, disgracing.

Enmity.

State of being supreme; highest authority or power.

5. The contest with Spain had been marked by no event of importance, but was soon merged in a GENERAL EUROPEAN WAR-the war of the AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. Maria Theresa had succeeded her father in Austria, and the European powers had signed a promise to respect her claim; but Frederic, King of Prussia (surnamed the Great), attacked her, and France followed his example. Great Britain espoused her cause, and aided her with men and money. The allied forces of England, Austria, and Holland, gained a great victory over the French at DETTINGEN, 1743; but in 1745 sustained a severe defeat by them at FONTENOY. Frederic, jealous of his French allies, soon after made peace. In 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored general tranquillity for a few years.