In the last paper, under the title of Let the Birds Live ! I gave some reasons why all who own gardens and farms should let these little benefactors live unmolested.

In this paper I would further urge as a duty the care and especial protection from harm the various kinds of birds which seek the vicinity of the farm-house, the garden, and the orchard as places of habitation.

Some few individuals, let ignorance or prejudice against one or more species of birds, condemn the whole race to the shot-gun. Suppose that some few of the birds do prey upon the honey-bee, like the peewit; suppose others, like the robin and cedar-bird, devour our best cherries, is that a reason why they should be banished for ever from the garden, their sweet song silenced, their graceful gyrations amid the woods and groves to be seen no more, and all for the simple reason that they partake unasked of the common bounties of the same Providence that feeds man? Let the birds live. They serve with true fidelity their humble mission, and in doing so they confer an immense benefit upon man as checks upon myriads of noxious insects, which otherwise would prove enemies too formidable for man to contend with alone.

One pair of robins, with a family, will, during the three or four weeks of the caterpillar season, destroy an immense number of these vile insects. Let some of our younger readers tell us bow large a number of caterpillars they would kill in four weeks' time, allowing them to kill only sixteen per hour for four hours each day, which is a low estimate during the four weeks' time. They will find, in the answer, an all-sufficient reason why that particular family of robins should live; and having watched their operations with much pleasure during this time, they have become their fast friends and firm protectors.

"This bird patronage," says one, "is small business, I think, and does not pay." Friend, you are mistaken, it does pay, and pays well. You can not obtain a single cherry from some dozen trees, you say - the robins and cedar-birds get them all. You can save a sufficient number for yourself, if you will take the trouble to do it. How shall I do it, do you ask? Not with shot-gun and slaughter. (So to work in a quieter manner; those fine cherries which the birds love as well as yourself, can be saved to you; you can share a part with your busy little winged gardener, and should do so; but lest they should appropriate to their use more than you think they deserve, quietly put a stop to their operations. Birds are, as a general thing, not on friendly terms with cats; now, by placing upon your cherry trees some plaster of Paris cats, such as you purchase for a shilling of the image man, will, if repainted to look like a black and grey cat, most effectually prevent the devastation of birds upon the tree upon which they are placed. It will be borne in mind, however, that the cats in plaster must be made to look as natural as possible.

The cats of the image seller, looking like any other animal in the world than a cat, being almost always painted in bright yellow, with daubs of red, and arc no cats at all. I have seen the experiment of the plaster cats tried with perfect success. If one docs not wish to try this remedy, let him have a net attached to a large prop, which, though a more expensive remedy, is a sure one. Such nets will protect small trees most effectively, and are used by many farmers in different sections of New England.

It is an erroneous opinion to suppose that birds live upon fruits altogether; many birds live on seeds, and feed their young upon the larvae of insects, and vast quantities of grubs and insects are every year destroyed in every garden by these public benefactors. Let the birds live; build them neat little habitations; accustom them to your voice; they will soon come and go at your bidding; and it is wrong to accuse every bird that alights upon your corn of destroying it. They are there for another purpose; and if the black-breasted fellow yonder, who labors so per-severingly, does once in a while pull up a hill of corn, call a little philosophy to your aid; remember that God made not the earth and its fullness for man alone, but careth for the sparrow of the field, and he that hath said he will take care of the sparrow, will out of the great abundance of his Providence provide enough for you.

[We believe the experiment of placing stuffed cats in trees has been tried with the best results. It is a very simple remedy, and should be tried, with many others, before resorting to the wholesale destruction of the feathered race. - Ed].