STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 1 33 



of all the hawks, and once quite common in this State, is now seldom 

 seen. It is abundant in Western Iowa at the present day, as I have seen 

 a half dozen at one time, in that locality, flying over the prairie in search 

 of their food, \vhich consists entirely of snakes, lizards, frogs, beetles, and 

 grasshoppers. 



Of the eagles, among \vhich is the bird of our country, I can say 

 but little in praise, and although from national pride I would sufl'er 

 them to live, yet I consider them thieves and robbei's. 



Owls, coming next in order, and last of the Raptores, may, as a class, 

 be considered beneficial, some of them particularly so. The two small 

 species, wliich are quite common in this State, viz : the Mottled Owl 

 (Scops Also) and the Saw-whet Owl (Nictalc Acadica) being the best 

 of mousers, living, as the first species does, during winter, in the barn, 

 and almost wholly upon mice, those pests to the farmer, and during the 

 summer, with the above food, consuming large moths and beetles. 



The Scansorcs or Climbers includes the Woodpeckers and Cuckoos. 



Of the first I can not say much for or against, as I am not }'et satisfied 

 whether they are or are not more beneficial than injurious. But of the 

 two species of Cuckoos, the Yellow-billed and the Black-billed, the first 

 of which is quite common in Northern Illinois, I can speak in firm pnuse, 

 as I have know n a small orchard, which was terribly infested with the 

 American Tent-Caterpillar, entirely cleared of this great pest of the 

 orchardist, by a single pair. 



The next, a third order, which includes the Insessores or insect-eating 

 birds, is the one in which we are all very much interested, as it contains 

 nearly all of our insect-eating birds. 



The Blue Bird {Sialia sialis), arrives at Rock Island about the 24th 

 of Feb. to 1st of March. His food consists, in spring, entirely of insects. 

 It is not a seed-eating bird until small fruits are ripe, when it sometimes 

 takes the seeds, covered with their delicious envelope. 



The Warblers, as far as determined, are all beneficial ; their food con- 

 sistingj entirely of insects, spiders, and bark-lice. But we can not keep 

 them among us; many of them prefering to migrate farther to the 

 north, to nest and Tear their young, though a few of them remain among 

 us during the summer months. 



The Ilirundinidcc, Swallows and Martins, arrive at Rock Island 

 about March 25th. Mr. Green Smith has brought a charge against the 

 martin, but I will not condemn him for catching a few {Sihellala), or 

 Dragon Flies, for every year, he saved me many a fine dish of Doolittle 

 Black-caps, by driving away the blue-birds, cat-birds, robins, and black- 

 birds. I have found it a sure protection against the depredations of these 

 birds to place the martin-house among or very near the raspberries, as 

 the young are usually hatched about the time the fruit is ripe; and during 

 this season the martin is very pugnacious, and keeps the neighborhood 

 clear of intruders. 



Of the swallows I have heard no complaint, and would, by all means, 

 cultivate their company by building boxes in plenty, for them to occupy. 



Of the Laniidcc, or Shrikes, we have but two species, the Great 



