318 MISSOURI STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



AMERICAN ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, fArcluvhuteo lagopiis Sancti Jo- 



JiannisJ. 



]Srine birds dissected; "all showed their food to have been exclu- 

 sively field mice." 



From this it appears that except Cooper's, the hawks are the 

 friends and assistants of the Agriculturist and Horticulturist, and that 

 upon no other is war necessary, nor do I deem it necessary in his case, 

 but as he is small, one of the swiftest and least suspicioned, he will 

 care for himself. 



The owls need but little defense^ if you want to find the home of 

 an owl, go into the heavy forests and look on the ground at the roots 

 of the large trees, particularly the hollow trees. You will not have 

 hunted long, in the proper locality, till jou find at the root of some tree 

 a number of queer looking pellets made of hair and bones. These are 

 waste matter disgorged from the stomach or crop of an owl. If you 

 are not well enough posted in comparative anatomy to recognize the 

 bones, you can at least conclude that the hair did not come off of any 

 of your chickens ; whether the wholesale destroyers of rabbits, field- 

 mice, moles, etc., merit extinction at the hands of agriculturists and 

 horticulturists, these gentlemen may determine. 



The crow is under ban from which I will make no effort to remove 

 him, as he is abundantly able to take care of himself. 



I will simply say, in his favor, that he is the untiring enemy of the 

 wire worm. 



During the fall of 1884 I was at Lexington, Mo., and heard con- 

 stant complaint of the ravages of the wire-worm. Knowing the crow 

 to have been charged with enmity to the insect I took advantage of 

 the favorable opportunity to make investigations. By shooting and 

 examining a number of birds I satisfied myself that he was, at least, 

 one of the most formidable natural enemies of this pest. While I be- 

 lieve 99 per cent of the depredations charged to him are made upon 

 hearsay evidence^ I do not deem it at all necessary to offer anything 

 more in his favor, but would address him in the language of the im- 

 mortal Tallyrand ; "Madam you can schwim!" 



Of our small birds I find the Cat-bird, fM. CaroUnensisJ, the Or- 

 chard Oriole, fJ. SpurinsJ^ the Bee martin or King bird, (T. CaroUnen- 

 sisj, the Jay bird, fC. crislatus), and the Domestic Sparrow or English 

 Sparrow, (P. domesticusj changed with high crimes and misdemeanors; 

 or at least with conduct unbecoming the friend of the horticulturist. 

 I am not prepared to sit in judgment upon the cat-bird, from lack of 



