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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Problem of the Hawk and the Owl 



Are Hawks and Owls Good or Bad? 



To Shoot or not to Shoot. 



BY HERBERT K. JOB, STATE ORNITHOLO- 

 GIST, WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT. 



Most hawks and owls will at least 

 occasionally destroy a chicken or a use- 

 ful bird. Some kinds do this habitual- 

 ly ; others prefer a different diet and 

 commit depredations only under force 

 of circumstances. While it would not 

 be desirable to have birds of prey really 

 abundant, on the whole they have a 

 useful function to perform, in the keep- 

 ing down of noxious vermin? To have 

 them entirely exterminated would be a 

 calamity. 



Take, for instance, the great horned 

 owl, classed as one of the most destruc- 

 tive species. It certainly kills game 

 birds and poultry to some extent. But 

 I have often examined the nests to 

 which it brings its prey. In the ma- 

 jority of cases I have found there rab- 

 bits, skunks, wodchucks, squirrels, 

 rats, snakes, but birds only occasion 

 ally. It feeds mainly on vermin, but if 

 there were too many owls there would 

 not be vermin enough to go round, and 

 the owls would invade the poultry 

 yard. They are magnificent great crea- 

 tures, and I love to hear them hooting 

 in the twilight in the rugged hill 

 country and the big timber. Much the 

 same is true of the barred owl. 



We have only two kinds of hawks 

 that are a serious menace, the Cooper's 

 and the sharp-shinned hawks. Their 

 principal diet is birds and poultry, and 

 it is proper to shoot them at^ sight. 

 There is no danger of exterminating 

 them. 



The other hawks and owls are like 

 most people, neither notable saints nor 

 very great sinners. Some of them, 

 like the so-called hen hawks — the red- 

 tailed and red-shouldered hawks, some- 

 times bother the game birds, though 

 they usually confine their attention to 

 vermin and insects, being rather heavy, 



sluggish birds, and taking what comes 

 easy. 



"Good" birds will sometimes fall 

 from grace. I know of a screech owl 

 that killed a Hungarian partridge 

 through the wire of a pen. I have even 

 heard of one that killed a large hen. It 

 was winter, and probably they were 

 desperate from hunger. Ordinarily they 

 are splendid mousers and ratters. The 

 marsh hawk that quarters over the 

 meadows, the retiring broad winged 

 hawk of forest tracts, the little spar- 

 row hawk with reddish back that 

 hovers over the field for mice and 

 grass-hoppers, are birds of this same 

 category- Those who shoot them all 

 indiscriminately only reveal their lack 

 of observation. 



In the western grain-raising country, 

 the hawks and owls keep down the 

 gophers, the farmer's worst pest. In 

 some localities in which bounties have 

 been offered for hawks and owls, it is 

 said that rodents have so increased that 

 they girdle the fruit trees and seriously 

 ravage the crops. 



My plea, in short, is to discriminate. 

 Keep down only the really injurious 

 species. Kill individuals of other 

 kinds that commit depredations. Con- 

 sider that many of our raptorial birds 

 lead quiet and mostly harmless lives, 

 holding down the flood of vermin that 

 would overwhelm us. 



A Bull Snake Eating Pintail Eggs. 



BY ROBERT B. ROCKWELL. DENVER, 

 COLORADO. 



The bull snake is a large snake of 

 terrifying appearance, and although he 

 makes an awe inspiring demonstration 

 when disturbed, he is little more than 

 a bluffer, as he is entirely harmless. 



Yet his big body must have nourish- 

 ment, and as he is only an ordinary 

 hunter, he selects the easiest prey. He 

 therefore likes nothing better than to 

 find a nest full of bird's eggs upon 

 which to gorge himself. On this ac- 



