garden are the only ones that lose a noticeable amount of food. We cut down the forests from which the birds obtain part of their food. We destroy insect pests at great cost of spraying, etc. The commission the birds charge for such work is very small indeed. (See pages 177-183.)
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Fig. 314.—Wood Duck, male (Aix sponsa). Nests in hollow trees throughout North America. Also called summer duck in South. Why?
The English sparrow is one bird of which no good word may be said. Among birds, it holds the place held by rats among beasts. It is crafty, quarrelsome, thieving, and a nuisance. It was imported in 1852 to eat moths. The results show how ignorant we are of animal life, and how slow we should be to tamper with the arrangements of nature. In Southern cities it produces five or six broods each year with four to six young in each brood. (Notice what it feeds its young.) It fights, competes with and drives away our native useful birds. It also eats grain and preys upon gardens. They have multiplied more in Aus-
