Even the leaves on the trees were eaten.'
3. 'Is this true?'
'Quite true. They had to send for little birds from other places to live
in their fields and gardens. Do you know that a sparrow kills four
thousand grubs in one day when her babies are in the nest?
4. 'One wise man who grows fruit says that his best friends are the
sparrows, and he makes holes in the garden-walls for them to build in.
Their sharp eyes see the tiny things that would spoil the fruit, and
their sharp beaks nip them up at once.
[Illustration]
5. 'He loves to see sparrows in an apple-tree in blossom-time; he knows
they are saving the apples for him.'
'But Jack says he has seen them pecking at fruit.'
6. 'Yes, they like fruit, just as you and I do. But there would be no
fruit at all, if the birds did not eat the grubs.
7. 'The man I was telling you about puts nets over his trees when the
fruit begins to ripen. And I heard only the other day that it is a good
plan to put pans of clean fresh water close to the trees and bushes.
Then the birds will not go so often to the fruit. They are thirsty and
hot, poor things!
8. 'And there would be no corn, if the birds did not kill the
wheat-fly's grubs.'
9.
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