HAWKS. 



The first thing to learn about these birds is that 

 there are good Hawks and bad Hawks. We have six 

 species resident in this vicinity, only two of which 

 are harmful; the others are among the farmers' best 

 friends. The shooting of a good Hawk always results 

 in a distinct loss to the farmer of such products as are 

 destroyed by field mice, rats and rabl^its. In some 

 agricultural districts, where there has been ignorant 

 and indiscriminate shooting of all Hawks, there has 

 frequently followed a field-mouse plague, which has 

 done incalculable damage. 



It is not so difficult as one might suppose to dis- 

 tinguish betw^een injuriotis Hawks and those that are 

 beneficial. The two harmful species, Cooper's and the 

 Sharp-shinned, have long tails and slender bodies; 

 while the good Haw^ks, — the Red-shouldered, Red- 

 tailed, Broad-winged and Sparrow Hawk — are rather 

 stocky, with short tails. The different habits of the 

 two kinds are even more distinguishing than their ap- 

 pearance. The Poultry Hawk conceals himself in a 

 clump of evergreens or dense shrubbery near farm 

 buildings, from which he darts out among the poultry, 

 seizes a chicken and is off, perhaps without being seen 

 or heard. 



Chicken Hawks seldom soar in the open as do the 

 mouse-hunting Hawks. Useful species often suffer 

 for the sins of the chicken thieves, for if a farmer 

 misses poultry and observes a Haw^k soaring over his 

 meadows, he at once concludes that he sees the mis- 

 creant and gets his gun, when the real culprit is prob- 

 ably concealed in the nearest thicket, digesting his 

 last m.eal. 



