No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 179 



and grasshoppers. In an examination of 562 stomachs of chicken 

 hawks, 278 contained field mice; 171 others, small mammals; 47 

 noxious insects, and 54 poultry. The actual contents of the 562 

 stomachs consisted of the remains of 40 small birds, 12 chickens, 

 52 mice, and several thousand insects. This shows that for every 

 chicken taken there were 50 mice, and probably as many as 1,000 

 01' 2,000 insects, which considerably more than offsets the loss of a 

 single chicken to the farmer. Notwithstanding the favorable show- 

 ing, laws have been continually passed in Pennsylvania oilering 

 bounties for the slaughter of hawks and owls. Furthermore, the 

 heads and scalps of other small birds which are not hawks or owls 

 at all, such as whip-poor-wills, night-hawks, and other such birds, 

 are brought into our county authorities, who are a good deal more 

 politicians than ornithologists. 



These laws are still in force in some States, and in very few is 

 there any law^ protecting hawks and owls. The United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture has circulated thousands and thousands 

 of the reports from which I have given you some extracts, yet they 

 seem to have no effect upon farmers at large. The Legislature of 

 Pennsylvania passed a law some years ago protecting hawks and 

 owls. It was in operation for one session. In the next a bill was 

 introduced legalizing the killing of hawks and oavIs, showing the 

 impossibility, almost, of keeping laws of this kind in force in the 

 face of the popular prejudice. Some birds indisputably destroy 

 considerable quantities of ripened grain, fruits and berries, such as 

 the red-winged blackbird. Crows undoubtedly destroy a great deal 

 of grain; but in the case of the blackbird, he does quite as much 

 good as harm. The Baltimore oriole destroys considerable quanti- 

 ties of grapes in certain sections, but he is very largely an insectivor- 

 ous bird at other times, when he subsists almost exclusively on in- 

 sects. While the red-headed woodpecker feeds in summer almost 

 entirely on insects, during certain seasons he does considerable dam- 

 age to raspberry and blackberry crops. The robin, king birds, 

 meadow larks, cedar birds, thrushes, cat birds, and sparrows are, 

 during part of the year, very injurious; but as a rule there are 

 very few of these birds but that amply make up for the damages to 

 the crops by the insects they destroy at other times of the year. 

 In conclusion, I say, every farmer should use his influence to pro- 

 tect the birds. 



