SECOND ANXl'AL MEETING 23 



of as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their 

 stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever, con- 

 sists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with 

 other particles of vegetation. The good done by these birds as de- 

 stroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as 

 grain-eaters. 



Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and 

 Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go 

 to show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer's 

 friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they 

 accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other 

 small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far ex- 

 ceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destriiction of 

 poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents 

 of about 2,700 stomachs of these birds showed that only six of the 

 seventy-three species found in the United States are injurious. Three 

 of these are so rare that they need not be considered. Of the remaining 

 three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly injurious; hence but two re- 

 main to be considered, viz., the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. 

 "Omitting the six species that feed largely on poultry' and game, 2,212 

 stomachs were examined, of which 56 per cent contained mice and other 

 small mammals, 27 per cent insects, and only 3% per cent poultry and 

 game birds." 



The food habits of both the Tiirkey Vulture and the Carrion Crow, or 

 Black Vulture, are of such a nature that the destruction of these birds 

 should be prohibited. In fact, in many of the states this is done by 

 law. They live almost exclusively upon carrion or decomposing animal 

 matter, and in this manner aid in the prevention of diseases that might 

 result from the presence of such tilth. They raaj^ however, be the cause 

 of indirectly spreading hog cholera where animals that have died from 

 this disease are left unburied or iinburned. 



The Cuckoos are among the few birds that habitually feed upon hairy 

 caterpillars, such as the various "tent-making" species. They also de- 

 stroy large numbers of other caterpillars, and do not object to beetles 

 and other insects which they find among the foliage of trees. Although 

 shy birds they are frequently seen in cities, where thej^ do their share 

 in protecting the shade trees from the ravages of insect defoliators. 



Taking the Woodpeckers as a family, there are few persons but who 

 will readily admit that these birds comprise a very useful group. Feed- 

 ing, in fact, as most of them do, upon the larvfe of wood-boring in- 

 sects, they can readily do much greater good for the actual number 

 of insects destroyed than if they destroyed only those that feed upon 

 the foliage of trees. Xot unfrequently will a single borer kill an entire 

 tree if left to itself, Avliile hundreds of foliage-feeding caterpillars of 

 the same size have but little effect upon the appearance, to Say nothing 

 of the health, of the same tree. 



