13 2 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



opposite means — continually harassing them during the nesting season — 

 may drive them away to other localities. And I will here remark, that 

 the proper time to war against the birds is during the nesting season, as 

 one nest destroyed is as good as a dozen birds killed. 



Not wishing to give the observations of other writers upon the sub- 

 ject of the food of different species, I will confine myself to the limited 

 number of observations made by myself of a few species, with times of 

 their arrival at Rock Island in spring, taken from my notes, which I 

 kept for nearly ten years. 



In the order Raptorcs. or birds of prey, which order includes the 

 Vultures, Hawks, Eagles, and different species of owls, there is quite -a 

 diversity of opinion among naturalists, some claiming them all more or 

 less beneficial, while others contend that but a few are so. 



The most of the species of this order are difficult to obtain, con- 

 sequently I have examined but few. 



The Sparrozu Hawk {Falco sparverius) arrives at Rock Island early 

 in March. I have found his food to consist, early in the season, of birds 

 and mice, and later of grasshoppers. I have caught him, in spring, 

 more frequently eating small birds than the other kinds of food named, 

 and I should, therefore, condemn him to the fruit-grower, while I think 

 him beneficial to the grain-raiser. 



The Rough-legged Hawk {Archibuteo lagopus)^ a winter visitor 

 among us, makes his principal food — as I have discovered by dissection — 

 of mice, the "small field mice" (Arvico/a). I have shot these hawks 

 in winter, in the oak groves, where there were numerous prairie hens, 

 but did not find any but the first-named food in their crops. 



The Alarsh Hawk^ or Hen Harrier {Circus Uudsonius)^ is one of 

 the most indvistrious of the Hawk tribe, as you will see him day after 

 day slowly sailing over your meadows on the prairie. You may always 

 tell this hawk by the broad white band across the tail of the females and 

 young males. That of the adult male is a fine light blue, but he is 

 seldom captured in perfect plumage. I have shot but one with perfect 

 plumage; that was on the plains of Nebraska, beyond Fort Kearney. 

 The principal food of this species is small mice, grasshoppers, frogs and 

 other vermin ; and although he sometimes makes an occasional meal 

 from some wandering poultry, I consider him, on the whole, one of the 

 most valuable of the species. 



The Sharphshmned Hawk {Acci-piter fziscus), a. beautiful, daring 

 little species, as far as my observation has reached, prefers small birds to 

 any other kind of food, and does not scruple to attack birds of far more 

 weight than himself. 



In March, 1863, Mr. R. B. Taylor, of Rock Island, brought me a 

 very fine specimen of the Broad-winged Hawk [Buteo Pennsylvanictis)^ 

 whose crop I found, upon dissection, to contain the remains of one field- 

 mouse, some half dozen of a species of cetonia {Euryoinia Inda)^ and 

 about the same number of a large species of gi-asshopper {Acridium 

 Americanuni). The last found only in Southern Illinois. 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk {Nauclerus furcatus)^ the most beautiful 



