Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 



551 



THE SPARROW HAWK. 



This little hawk is the smallest of our birds of prey. It is of 

 a trusting nature and easily approached. As a result it very fre- 

 quently falls before the hunter's gun. A pair of them reared their 

 family in our front yard where we had an especially good opportu- 

 nity to observe them. The hens with small chickens moved about 

 freely, but the hawks caught their prey from the neighboring fields. 

 Grasshoppers and crickets composed a large part of the food. A 

 considerable number of mice and an occasional striped ground 

 squirrel was also taken. A few small birds were caught during 

 the summer, but most of them were English sparrows. On the 

 whole this is a very valuable little bird and should be protected. 



THE RED-TAILED HAWK. 



(For detailed account of observation, see Forest and Stream, June 18, 1910.) 



This big fellow goes commonly by the name of chicken hawk, 



although he is suffering for the 

 sins of the Cooper hawk. From 

 March to June the family of Red- 

 tailed hawks under observation 

 were only known to have two small 

 chickens. On the other hand they 

 had as high as three pocket go- 

 phers, two field mice and a prairie 

 gray squirrel in one day. I esti- 

 mated that this pair of birds were 

 worth at least fifty dollars to the 

 community in destroying such 

 pests as gophers, mice, rats, moles, 

 ground squirrels, etc., based on 

 the fact that the county was at 

 that time paying a bounty of ten 

 cents per head for the destruction 

 of gophers. 



Red-tailed Hawk. 



THE SCREECH OWL. 



(See Nature and Culture, October, 1912.) 



For years screech owls have lived about our buildings and we 

 have become well acquainted. One became so tame that he would 

 permit me to come very close to him as he sat in the barn window 

 or on the fence at nightfall. The food of these little birds consists, 



