8 



of the most beneficial to man. He lives almost exclusively upon 

 grasshoppers and crickets, and the number of the former destroyed 

 by these birds is incalculable. 



I mention the Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks last because they 

 unquestionably kill many small birds and they also commit depreda- 

 tions upon the poultry yard. I believe, however, they can safely be 

 left to be dealt with by the class they injure, chiefly poultrymen. To 

 place all the hawks and owls under ban, and to attempt their exter- 

 mination simply because one or two species are injurious is certainly 

 not good policy. 



After more than twenty years study of birds I am decidedly of the 

 opinion that the hawks and owls as a class are of great economic 

 value, and that no State in which agriculture is pursued to any extent 

 can afford to dispense with their services. They not only ought not 

 to be exterminated, but they should be placed upon the list of birds 

 protected by law. Lam, very truly yours, 



H. W. HENSHAW. 



WASHINGTON, D. C, March 3, 1886. 



B. H, Warren, M. D., Ornithologist Penns)lvania State Board of 

 Agriculture, West Chester, Penna. — Dear Sir : — Your letter of recent 

 date requesting my opinion of the act [No. 109] ol the Common- 

 wealth of Pennsylvania relative to the premiums paid for the destruc- 

 tion of certain species of birds and mammals, alleged to be 

 injurious and classed as noxious within the meaning of that act, is at 

 hand. 



I must confess a surprise at the truly lamentable ignorance of the 

 framer of that act in regard to the supposed noxious character of the 

 hawks and owls, upon whose lives a premium has been set for their 

 destruction. 



It is well known that no more beneficial bird exists than the owl, 

 whose nocturnal habits fender it specially fitted to pursue the smaller 

 rodents, such as mice, whose ravages upon the field, grain, root and 

 orchard are so well known that all farmers have from time imme- 

 morial exclaimed against the destructiveness of those quadrupeds 

 whose annual devastation causes the money value of the losses sus- 

 tained through their ravages to swell into countless thousands of 

 dollars. 



The tender growths of the orchard are decorticated by the mice 

 and rabbits, which are in turn devoured by the owls sought to be 

 destroyed simply because some one desires to become notorious as a 

 law maker, and througii utter ignorance of the subject endeavors to 

 deprive the farmer of his best nocturnal friends, which guard the ^ 

 growing crop with zealous care while the owner sleeps to regain a 

 strength to enable him to continue the daily toil of protecting his 

 crops from the devastation of his sleek-furred enemies, most insidious 

 at night. There is not a species of owl but that amply repays for 



