is almost certain to be followed by a correspondingly enormous increase in the 

 numbers of mice and insects formerly held in check by them, and it will take 

 many years to restore the balance thus blindly destroyed through ignorance of 

 the economic relations of our common birds and mammals." 



Detailed results of the analysis of the stomach contents of our hawks made 

 by the ornithologists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture fully substantiate 

 this claim of the economic value of most of these birds and are given beyond. 



Owls, because of their nocturnal habits, are even better mousers than hawks. 

 It is their habit to disgorge, in form of pellets, the fur and bones of their prey, 

 and in 675 such pellets, from the barn owl, taken in one of the towers of the 

 Smithsonian Institute at Washington, Dr. A. K. Fisher found the remains of 

 1,119 meadow or field mice, 4 pine mice, 452 house mice, 134 rats, and several 

 other species of small mammals, together with a few small birds of no especial 

 economic importance. 



No farmer whose corn in field or granary, whose potatoes and other crops 

 have been damaged by the destructive field mice, can fail to realize on reading 

 these figures what a powerful ally he has in owls. 



In the face of all these benefits conferred by birds as insect, seed, and mouse- 

 eaters, we perhaps can view more charitably the depredations of the crows and 

 blackbirds in our corn and grain fields. The tarring of corn proves an effective 

 means of making it unpalatable to crows, but no such convenient means has 

 been discovered for protecting fields of grain from the ravages of the hordes of 

 blackbirds which are attracted to them by the bountiful supply of choice foods 

 they ofifer, and in this instance man has so far disturbed Nature's balance that the 

 scales have been turned against him, and the bird has become an enemy rather 

 than a friend. 



The Redstart {Setophaga ruticUla) 

 By Henry W. Henshaw 



Length, nearly 5^ inches. To be distinguished from other warblers by its 

 coloration and its motions. (See below.) 



Range : Breeds from central British Columbia and eastern Canada to 

 Washington, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma and North Carolina ; winters in the West 

 Indies and from Mexico to Ecuador. 



Its beauty of form and plumage and its graceful motions place this dainty 

 bird at the head of our list of wood warblers — a place of distinction indeed. The 

 bird appears to be the incarnation of animated motion and fairly dances its way 

 through the forest. Spanish imagination has coined a suggestive and fitting name 

 for the Redstart, candelita, the little "torch bearer." The full appropriateness of 

 the name appears as the graceful creature flits through the greenery, displaying 

 the salmon-colored body and the bright wing and tail patches. The Redstart is 

 not unknown in some parts of the west, but it is essentially a bird of the eastern 



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