“The bluebird catches the bad bugs and grasshoppers and beetles and spiders and caterpillars in your orchard. And he very rarely takes even a bite of your berries or grapes.
“The kingbird is a fine flycatcher and he does much good. Sometimes he does eat a honeybee, it is true, but it must be because he mistakes it for a large fly.
“The brown thrasher makes his home in the swamps and groves. He does eat some raspberries and currants, in addition to the harmful insects he devours, but nearly all of these must be wild ones.
“The few oats the bobolinks eat you could never miss, because these birds feed mostly on insects and the seeds of useless plants.
“The meadow lark saves thousands of dollars every year on the hay crop. He builds his nest on the ground in the meadow and feeds himself and his large family on the crickets and grasshoppers he finds there.
“The crow and the blackbird, I know, eat some of your corn. But they will not touch the seed corn if you put coal tar on it.
“Both of these birds do a great deal of good, for which they get no credit. In the spring they follow the plow in search of large grub worms, of which they are very fond. They also eat grasshoppers, and weevils, and caterpillars.
“All of which goes to prove that the more birds we have, the fewer bugs there are, to bother us. And the fewer bugs there are, the more food we have.
“Therefore, I find that you two boys are guilty of a great wrong. Not only have you killed the farmer’s most valuable friends, but you have destroyed food as well.
“Your punishment will be one year in prison for every bird that you have killed.”