10 



purpose, and the gun should be brought into requisition at once, as all our beneficial 

 hawks migrate southward when cold weather sets in. 



From the above species, all of which are undoubtedly injurious to the interests 

 of the agriculturist by reason of the destruction they work in the poultry yard, and 

 amongst our insectivorous wild birds, we turn to the remaining six species of 

 hawks frequenting this Province, every one of which spends the greater part of 

 its time and devotes its energies to the destruction of animals and insects which 

 are known to be amongst the greatest pests the farmer has to contend with; these 

 are the Marsh Hawk, Eed-tailed Hawk, Bed-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged 

 Hawk, Eough-legged Hawk and Sparrow Hawk. 



Nearly every one knows the Marsh Hawk and has seen it gracefully skimming 

 over the low meadows, occasionally hanging poised over one spot for a second or 

 two, and then dropping down into the long grass; this drop generally means the 

 death of a meadow mouse; sometimes, but more rarely, a frog; of these two 

 creatures its food principally consists, and the number of meadow mice destroyed 

 by each of these birds in a season must be something enormous. As many as eight 

 have been found in the stomach of one of these hawks, and four or five quite 

 frequently. The hawk's digestion is very rapid and their hunting and feeding is 

 continued with but few intermissions from daylight until dark. 



How many mice each bird would take on the average each day would be diffi- 

 cult to state exactly, but it is safe to assume that at least six would be required. 

 Now multiply that by the vast army of hawks that resort to this Province and the 

 total number of mice destroyed would be amazing; and then against this good 

 work constantly going on there is no damage to be set off. Not one instance, in 

 forty years observation of this bird's habits, has ever come to the writer's know- 

 ledge of their having attacked a single domestic fowl. It does sometimes, make a 

 meal off a dead duck or other bird it may find in the marshes, but it is doubtful if 

 it ever kills for itself a bird of any kind, at any rate in this Province. Every 

 farmer and every sportsman in the land should do his utmost for the protection of 

 this hawk. Unfortunately they are constantly destroyed by persons who are 

 ignorant of the good they do. and thousands are killed every autumn by mis- 

 chievous people who must shoot at everything they see that has life in it. If 

 people who wantonly shoot hawks would sometimes look at the stomach contents 

 of the birds they kill they would soon be convinced of the wrong they were doing 

 and would perhaps exercise sufficient commonsense to refrain from continuing the 

 evil practice. 



For the sake of brevity the Eed-tailed Hawk. Eed-shouldered Hawk, and 

 Broad-winged Hawk may be considered together. These three common species 

 are usually known as "Hen Hawks." Why, however, it would be difficult to sav. 

 They are all fairly large, slow, heavy flying birds, whose food consists principally 

 of mice, squirrels, toads, frogs and snakes : very rarelv do they ever take a bird of 

 any kind. In fact it would be extremely difficult for them to do so, unless the bird 

 was very young, or injured seriously. They will, when pressed by hunger, feed on 

 carrion, but the staple article of diet with them is meadow mice and squirrels, 

 varied, as before stated, by toads, frogs and snakes, besides grasshoppers and other 

 insects. 



I have especially omitted from this group, to which it really belongs, the 

 Eough-legged Hawk. This is done purposely, because the great value of the 

 species to the farmer should be particularly pointed out, the bird having been most 

 unjustly persecuted. It is the largest of the Canadian hawks, and one that 

 deserves the greatest consideration and protoction from every man having an 



