COOPER’S HAWK (Accipiter cooperi) 
Length, about 15 inches. Medium sized, with 
long tail and short wings, and without the 
white patch on rump which is characteristic of 
the marsh hawk. 
Range: Breeds throughout most of the 
United States and southern Canada; winters 
from the United States to Costa Rica. 
Habits and economic status: The Cooper's 
hawk, or “blue darter,” as it 1s familiarly 
known throughout the South, is preéminently 
8 ] 
a poultry and bird-eating species, and its de 
structiveness in this direction 1s surpassed only 
by that of its larger congener, the goshawk, 
which occasionally in autumn and winter enters 
the United States from the North in great 
numbers. The almost universal prejudice 
against birds of prey is largely due to the ac- 
tivities of these two birds, assisted by a third, 
the sharp-shinned hawk, which in habits and 
appearance might well pass for a small Coop- 
er’s hawk. These birds usually approach under 
cover and drop upon unsuspecting victims, 
making great inroads upon poultry yards and 
game coverts favorably situated for this style 
of hunting. Out of 123 stomachs examined, 38 
contained the remains of poultry and game 
birds, 66 the remains of other birds, and 12 the 
remains of mammals. Twenty-eight species of 
wild birds were identified in the above-men- 
tioned material, This destructive hawk, to- 
gether with its two near relatives, should be 
destroyed by every possible means. 
MOURNING DOVE (Zenaidura macroura) 
Length, 12 The dark spot on the 
side of the neck distinguishes this bird from 
all other native doves and pigeons except the 
white-winged dove. The latter has the upper 
third of wing white. 
Breeds throughout the United States 
Mexico, Guatemala, and southern Can- 
from the central United States 
inches. 
Range : 
and in 
ada; winters 
to Panama. 
Habits and economic status: The food of 
the mourning dove is practically all vegetable 
matter (over 99 per cent), principally seeds of 
plants, including grain. Wheat, oats, rye, corn, 
barley, and buckwheat were found in 150 out 
of 237 stomachs, and constituted 32 per cent 
of the food. Three-fourths of this was waste 
grain picked up after harvest. The principal 
and almost constant diet is weed seeds, which 
are eaten throughout the year and constitute 
64 per cent of the entire food. In one stomach 
were found 7,500 seeds of yellow wood sorrel, 
in another 6,400 seeds of barn grass or fox- 
tail, and in a third 2,600 seeds of slender pas- 
palum, 4,820 of orange hawkweed, 950 of 
hoary vervain, 120 of Carolina cranesbill, 50 of 
yellow wood sorrel, 620 of panic grass, and 40 
of various other weeds. None of these are 
useful, and most of them are troublesome 
weeds. The dove does not eat insects or other 
animal food. It should be protected in every 
p issible way. 
Photograph by Dr. C, William Beet 
THE DANDY AMONG BIRDS 
The Mexican mot-mot is perhaps the only bird that mutilates its tail-teathers for pur- 
poses of decoration after they are full-grown. A portion of the shafts is denuded by the 
bird, leaving the web at the tips to form a conspicuous rat ket. 
