Feb. 1888.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



25 



No. !). Sparrow Hawk (Tinnuiiciilvs sparve- 

 rius). Ailult male. Jan. 15. 1SS7, 3 p. in. 

 Stoniiich coiitainetl <;ras,sh()ppor.s only. 



No. 10. Groat HornrilOwl {liuho inryinianus.) 

 Adult Female. Feb. 28, 1887. Shot from a nest. 

 Stomach coiilainefl remains of a lar<;e " wood 

 rat" anil feathers of a sparrow. 



No. 11. Florkla Harreil Owl (Strix ncliulusn 

 alleui). Adiill female. Mareh 1!). 1SS7. 2 p. ni. 

 Shot from nest. Stomaeh eoiilahieil feathers 

 and small bones. A dead {'ardiual (irosl)e;di was 

 lying in the cavity of the nest, close to the eggs. 



No. 12. Mississippi Kite {Ictiitia snhciiTuled). 

 Adult male. Sept. .'!, 1887, 2 p. m. Stomach 

 contained grasshoppers and beetles. 



No. 13. i;e<l-taileil Hawk (liuteo borealix). 

 .\dult Male. Dec. 2, ]8S(i, 12 m. Stomaeh con- 

 tained pari of a fox sipiirrel. 



No. 14. ]{ed-bellied Hawk (Bntcn liiieatus cle- 

 (janit). Adult female. April 13, 1887, 9 a. m. 

 Shot fron) nest. Stomach contained part of a 

 Inrd (Texan Quail). 



No. 15. Sharp-shiuned Hawk {Accipiter fus- 

 cus). Adult female. Feb. 16, 1887, 10 a. m. I 

 shot tliis specimen while feasting on a Towliee 

 that it had just caught. 



On January 22, 1887, a fusilade of small arms 

 took me over to my ueigiibor's to ascertain the 

 cause. I found tliat he had sowed forty acres 

 in oats, and to use Ids expression, "the cussed 

 field larks [Meadow I.arks, Sliirui'lla magna], 

 were going to eat it all up." This Lark is com- 

 mon here during the winter in large flocks. 

 There were several hundred of them in the oat 

 field, and my friend and his two sons were pa- 

 trolling the field. Three of tlie larks had been 

 shot, and I dissected them all. Eacli of them 

 had a few of the oats in the stomach, but the 

 bulk of the contents was cut worms and root- 

 feeding larva'. My friend could see that these 

 would have to feed ou the crop if they had not 

 been eaten by the larks, and he called ott' his 

 array. The field yielded a good crop of oats, 

 notwithstanding the larks had full sway during 

 the rest of the season. 



It will be seen that the food of all the birds 

 examined consisted mainly of insects, and a 

 majority of them presumably injurious, either 

 in the perfect or larval state. A few of them 

 had captured birds or eaten grain, but this is 

 to be overlooked in comparison with the num- 

 ber of insects, etc., destroyed. 



The Red-tailed Hawk picks up an occasional 

 chicken, but not often. The oidy one that is 

 really injurious is the Iicd-bellied Hawk. He is 

 an unmitigated pest, as he will depopulate a 

 farmer's poultry yard if not killed. 



I had occasion this year to make some inves- 

 tigations about llie killing of birils, and find 

 that there is much mure of it going on than is 

 supposed. 



The chief destroyer herc^ is tlic^ Ki-eedmau. 

 This important personagi? will always manage 

 to got a gun ot some kind, and as he won"t work 

 any more than is necessary to keep alive, he 

 will bo found in the woods with his gun very 

 often, and he can alwa3's be tracked by the 

 nundiei of small birds th.at he kills from 

 l)ure line of killing, letting them He where 

 shot. 



Another source of wanton destnu'tion is 

 found in the (so-called) sportsmen of our little 

 towns. These gentry only get out to our lakes 

 throe or four times a year, but when they do 

 go they shoot everything that wi^ars featliers, 

 I came up with one of those sporting i)arties 

 once and counted some seventy odd Herons, 

 Coots, Grebes, and other birds (harmless and 

 not fit for food), lying about the lake where 

 they had been killed by these sportsmenC?) On 

 asking why they killed what they could not 

 use, I was informed that they did it to •• keep 

 in practice." Some of these people are horrified 

 because I rob "birds" nests." The killing of a 

 bird is justifiable if there is some use made of it 

 afterwards, but is this wholesale killing "for 

 prai-tice " justifiable? 



Data Blanks. 



HV A. .M. IXIJlvKSOI.I. AN1> WALTKU K. llinAN'l'. 



Since the introduction and general adoption 

 of useful data blanks for oiilogists, the annoy- 

 ances often attendant upon exchanges in tliis 

 lu-anch of natural history have been greatly di- 

 minished. The time which is saved by not hav- 

 ing to copy the data from a note book on to a 

 letter sheet as formerly, and from which it was 

 often transferred to a register by the receiving 

 party is considerable. The printed form which 

 encourages the recording of coi)ious notes is 

 obviously in its favor, while its neatness, which 

 is incomparabi}' superior to the letter sheet, 

 must recommend it to all. 



The great diversity in size, shajie, type and 

 ai-rangement of the data bbmks w hich are used, 

 has probably been noticed by those who make 

 exchanges, while the desirability of a stiindard 

 size w ith the same order of entry which all the 

 odlogists of this country would use, must be 

 apparent to every one who will give the sub- 

 ject a little attention. 



In looking over the numerous data receivetl 



