Chapter XIV 

 HAWKS AND OWLS 



"True to the season, o'er our sea-beat shore. 

 The sailing osprey high is seen to soar." 



— Alexander Wilson. 



Part I 



HAWKS 



In this chapter are considered Hawks and 

 Owls, two families of birds that belong to the 

 same order, the so-called birds of prey, having 

 similar feeding habits. There has been con- 

 siderable change of sentiment in this country 

 in recent years regarding these birds, largely 

 due to reports sent out from the Agricultural 

 Department at Washington giving the truth 

 regarding their food. Formerly it was believed 

 that Hawks and Owls fed largely upon small 

 birds, chickens, doves, etc., and, in consequence, 

 there was much prejudice against them, and 

 every farmer's gun was ready to destroy them 

 indiscriminately whenever opportunity offered. 

 But now that the truth has been discovered re- 

 garding these ''outlaws of bird land," it is found 

 that the real culprits belong to a few varieties 

 and that only a small part of their food is made 

 up of birds and chickens. In fact, they destroy 

 a very large number of mice and other rodents, 

 shrews and moles, grasshoppers and other ub= 



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