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UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, ] 

 Under Direction of the Smithsonian Institution, V 



Washington, March 3, 1886. ) 

 Dr. B. H. Warren, West Chester, Pa. 



Dear Dr. Warren : — I am just in receipt of your letter of the 

 ist instant, and therefore fear that my reply cannot reach you in time 

 for use at the meeting to-morrow evening. It affords me much pleas- 

 ure, however, to comply with your request for my views concerning 

 the food-habits of hawks and owls and their relation to man. 



Of all the species which you name there are only two which, 

 according to my best judgment, are at all seriously destructive to 

 game or poultry, these being Cooper's Hawk and the Great -horned 

 Owl The rest, with the possible exception of the Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk, which certainly is destructive to the smaler birds, my experi- 

 ence leads me to regard as very decidedly beneficial to man, their food 

 consisting very largely, if not chiefly, of the smaller rodents, field 

 mice especially. The Red shouldered and Red tailed Hawks occa- 

 sionally pick up a young chicken or rabbit, but I feel quite sure that 

 their service to man far outweighs the injury which they thus do. 

 The little Sparrow Hawk and other smaller species destroy large num- 

 bers of grasshoppers, locusts and other large insects. 



Very truly jours, ROBERT RIDGWAY, 



Curator, Dept. Birds. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, ) 

 Washington, D C, March 3, 1S86. j 



Dr. B. H. Warren, West Chester, Pa.: — Dear Doctor:— In reply to 

 your letter of the 3d inst., asking for my opinion in regard to the food, etc., 

 of certain hawks and owls specified, I would state that I have read Mr. 

 Robert Ridgway's answer to a similar request from you and that I 

 agree with him in every particular. The idea of persecuting the 

 majority of hawks and owls systematically is simply preposterous, and 

 any law which has for its object their indiscriminate destruction 

 should be immediately repealed, since most of the birds alluded to 

 are among the very best friends of the farmer. In regard to a few species 

 it is well worth while to suspend judgment until a thorough investiga- 

 tion as to their habits and food in your State can be carried out, for, 

 as you are well aware, a species which in some parts of the country 

 and at some seasons may be injurious, in other regions and under 

 altered circumstances may be chiefly beneficial. I remain, yours 

 sincerely, LEONARD STEJNEGER, 



Assistant Curator, Dept. of Birds, U. S. Nat Mus. 



WASHINGTON, March 3, 18S6. 



B. H. Warren, M. D., West Chester, Pa. — Dear Sir: — In reply to 

 your favor of the ist inst. asking for my opinion with regard to the 



