The Birds of Wyoming. 77 



and savannas. For lack of better perches the Sparrow Hawk 

 often uses these poles for resting places, from which they 

 make short trips to pick up a grasshopper or mouse which 

 they carry back to their perch. At times, when grasshoppers 

 are abundant, such a line of poles is pretty well occupied by 

 these hawks. 



"In the opinion of many people, unaccountable as it may 

 appear, the benefit accruing from the destruction of a great 

 number of mice or other injurious mammals or insects by 

 hawks does not offset the damage done by the capture of one 

 bird or chicken. This, of course, is not the case with those 

 intelligent farmers who recognize the benefit done by this lit- 

 tle hawk, and are not prejudiced against it if it exacts a mod- 

 erate interest now and then in the shape of a young chicken 

 or bird. In May and June, when the hawks are busy hatch- 

 ing their eggs and rearing their young, there is less time for 

 them to procure their favorite food. 



"It is during this period, as we might expect, that a very 

 large proportion of the birds which they capture in the course 

 of the year is taken. It is also at this time that we hear com- 

 plaints of their depredations in the poultry yard." 



Bond reports them common at Cheyenne ; Jesurun very 

 common at Douglas ; Coues cites numerous references relating 

 to Wyoming; Williston reports them common at Lake Como, 

 and that he found them preying upon Meadowlarks ; Grinnell 

 reported them abundant along the Yellowstone, 1875 ; Mc- 

 Carthy found them at Little Sandy, 27 miles west of Fort 

 Laramie, and on the North Fork of the Platte river, 1859; 

 Drexel took specimens at Fort Bridger ; Wood took specimens 

 at Medicine Bow creek and Pole creek, 1856; Ca-ry reports 

 them common at Newcastle and states that they were com- 

 mencing to nest June 9. 



