506 THE WESTERN RED-TAIL. 



sehxs for sage-rats, yet deny them to their riglitful owner, the Red-tail; and 

 they pursue lu'ni fiercely with engines of destruction when he \-entures to 

 sample an ini[)iirteil Danish fowl. X'erily these he trouhlous times for the 

 aristocracy. Alackaday I 



Truth to tell, there is n<> mure foolish uljsessiun which attiicts farmer folk 

 than this : that all 1 lawks should be killetl at sight ; unless it be this other : that 

 all birds caught eating cherries are worthy of death. Penny wise pound 

 foolish, both of them! The man who is worst injured by this foll\- is. of 

 course, the farmer himself. InU society also sutlers thru him. Why — it is as 

 if the man should send a charge of buckshot thru a boy who stooped to pluck 

 a strawberr\' — the while he cared nothing that the cattle were ravaging his 

 wheatfield for lack of that same small bo_\- to dri\e them out. Listen; it is 

 no exaggeration to say, that, insofar as the three mo.st easily slaughtered 

 species of Hawk are concerned, the Marsh Hawk, Swainson's and the Red- 

 tail, anv farmer in the wlieat-growing sections of this State could well afford 

 to raise a hundred chickens annually and feed than to the birds, if by so 

 doing he could secure immunity from tlie ravages of rodent ])ests. Yes; 

 the excess of wheat which the pests destroy annual!}- in root and in Ijlade 

 would feed the chicks and repa}- the troul^le tenfold. 



Red-tailed Hawks no longer aljound in this or any other section. Such as 

 occur are found both east and west of the Cascades. In the Puget f^ound 

 country thev a].ipear only in the more open situations, on prairies and the 

 borders of clearings. On both sides they are partiall}- resident. Init least so 

 on the eastern plateaus, where the winters are se\'ere. P)y nature this hand- 

 some bird is little afraid of man. Young birds, tho capable of sustained 

 flight, refuse to lielieve ill of their human neighbors, to whom they have done 

 no harm, and thev fall easy \ictims to the ]:>revalent bangitis. Older birds 

 may halt on the tree-top for a fraction of a second too long, if they suppose 

 the gunner is passing b\' and minding his own business: but if they catch the 

 glint of intent in the luunan eye at a hundred yards, iliey are ott — and safe. 



The Red-tailed Hawk is a soaring bird, a buzzard, to speak accurately, 

 altho the word has fallen needlessly into disrepute. Buzzard is a mere reajv 

 pearance, thru the French, of the Latin Piifeo. This doubtless from a primi- 

 tive root now lost, bit or bou. One can almost see in this explosive syllable 

 the utterance of a cliild struck with wonder at the near passage of some soar- 

 ing Hawk. 'Ball.'" "See, Mamma ( Ligurian or Latin matters not), big 

 liirdi" The wonder of it lies no less upon us of more thoughtful years — 

 the wonder of flight, the beauty and the witchery of those lazy, high-flung 

 circles. How consonant with sunshine and shimmering air and. anon, with 

 peace itself, are those mystic circles of endless, unimpassioned quest! 



Our buzzard is seen to best advantage on the sage-brusli ])lains. and 

 especially if there be some outcrojjping of la\a handy, where he may build 



