70 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Mr. Chilberg investigated and learn- 

 ed tbat the specimen was practicallj' 

 perfect, the flesh and hide being in- 

 tact except in one small place, where 

 some animal had eaten away a por- 

 tion of the flesh. 



Aside from the small hole in its 

 back the animal was in excellent 

 shape. It is probably the finest ex- 

 ample of the preservative powers of 

 cold storage extant, for the animal 

 g'ot caught long before people knew 

 even how to keep ice during the sum- 

 mer months. 



Mastodon Can Be Removed. 



President Chilberg learned also 

 that the mastodon could be removed 

 from the ice, preserved and shipped 

 to Seattle 'at comparatively small 

 cost. 



It was too late then to send a crew 

 of men to preserve the specimen, but 

 there was present the consolation 

 that the approaching cold weather 

 would freeze it solidly and no harm 

 could come to it until next summer. 



Early next summer Prof. Trevor 

 Kincaid, the zoologist of the Univer- 

 sity of Washington, will be sent in- 

 to the interior of the northland to 

 save every particle of the creature 

 possible. The job of preserving the 

 monster will be a big one for some 

 taxidermist. — Ex. 



ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS. 



Hawks, (Falconidae). 



All of the members of this family 

 are generally looked upon as birds, 

 whose ravages are responsible for 

 the loss of poultry and game birds, 

 yet this idea is held by many mere- 

 ly because some better authority has 

 not stepped in to dispel this cloud of 

 imagination and to shed light upon 

 t!he real '•elation of these birds to 

 their surroundings. Thus it is that 

 they have acquired their bad reputa- 



tion, all this, simply because some 

 people shut their eyes to facts and 

 dub them all as "chicken hawks," ir- 

 respective of species. It is while un- 

 der this impression that the greatest 

 slaughter is committed. Many in- 

 stances have come under my notice 

 both in Connecticut and other New 

 I^ns-'and states, which shows that 

 killing of hawks without regard to 

 species is a reality and not a fanci- 

 ful deduction from other facts, and 

 mt until it has been d.;monstrated 

 that nr.{ .r.i hawks are s? black as 

 tliey are ) ainted wi.l 'his condition 

 r.i affairs cease. 



It is, indeed, true thRt some species 

 are harmful to the poultry raiser and 

 subsist largely on game, and domestic 

 fowls, and it is here that we should 

 make the distinction and give them 

 their due without burdening the in- 

 rxcent with their crimes. 



The ill-repute of the whole hawk 

 tribe is due to the depredations com- 

 mitted by the Accipiters, which, in 

 Connecticut, are two in number, the 

 Sharp Shinned Hawk, (accipiter ve- 

 lox,) and the rarer species Cooper's 

 Hawk, (Accipiter ccoperi) to the first, 

 which is the more common, let us 

 turn our attention. This bird may 

 often be seen in the spring and fall 

 flapping over the trees and bushes, 

 (the haunts of smaller birds.) with 

 rapid wing-strokes, or gliding along 

 in a low slant over a meadow fre- 

 quently dodging to the right or left 

 liy a few vigorous flaps of its short, 

 rounded wings, which motion shows 

 off its long square tail by which it 

 is distinguished from the Cooper's 

 Hawk. 



It feeds upon small birds, mice and 

 l)oultry and in the capture of the last 

 named, is exceeedingly bold. Many 

 times have I seen it plunge into the 

 depths of some tree in pursuit of 

 some smaller bird, which thought to 

 take refuge within its branches, or 



