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ORNITHOLOGY. 461 



seen here, but the robius, thrushes and cheewinks were in no wise 

 scattering, as the loss of a considerable many of the raspberries, 

 about all of the cherries, hundreds of bushels of apples pecked into 

 and more or less ruined and grapes, will bear testimony, more no- 

 ticeable in the cherries and berries, because they were generally a 

 lueager crop. 



I believe that nearly all of our birds are more beneficial than inju- 

 rious to the farmer, but some of them are very much more so than 

 others, and a better knowledge of them and their habits ought to be 

 possessed by our people. Nature left to herself keeps up an equi- 

 librium between beast, bird, reptile, insect and the vegetable world, 

 but man is continually breaking up this equilibrium. Sometimes 

 through ignorance, but oftener through cupidity, he is waging a 

 warfare against the best friends of the horticulturist, sacrificing 

 them alike with the foes. Had the coyote, fox, raccoon, lynx, skunk, 

 weasel and striped gopher been spared, it would have been a little 

 more difficult to raise sheep and poultry, but it would to a great 

 extent have done away with the necessity of protecting our young 

 forests, orchards and gardens against rabbits and mice, greatly 

 diminished the numbers of the white grub and cut worm, and saved 

 more grain than it would have cost to protect the sheep and poultry. 



Observations and investigations made by the ornithologist of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, C. Hart Merriam, and his assistant, 

 go to prove what I have long believed, that a class of birds — hawks 

 and owls — commonly looked upon as enemies to the farmer, and 

 indiscriminately destroyed whenever occasion required and their 

 destruction often encouraged by the offering of bounties, really 

 rank among his best friends and should be protected and encour- 

 aged to take up their abode near our homes. An examination of 

 the actual contents of 2,700 stomachs, by scientific experts, showed 

 that only six of the seventy-three species and sub-species of the 

 hawks and owls of the United States are injurious by feeding upon 

 poultry and game. Omitting these six (and most of them are ex- 

 tremely rare) 56 per cent of the contents of the others proved to be 

 mice and other stnall animals, 27 per cent, insects, and only 3^> 

 per cent poultry and game birds. 



There is not a doubt that owls are even more beneficial than the 

 hawks and inflict less damage on the poulterer, because the}'^ hunt 

 by night, when the poultry can easily be made secure from them- 

 The long eared owl is one of the most common, and if the chickens 

 are allowed to roost in trees and open sheds, they sometimes carry 

 otY considerable numbers of them. I one season lost a considerable 

 number of chickens by their entering the door, which was left open, 

 and carrying them off at night, but since taking the precaution to 

 provide a screen door and closing it at night, and placing wire net- 

 ting over the windows, none have been disturbed. They nest and 

 batch their young in the latter part of winter or early spring, 

 and duringthat period a re great hunters, destroying great numbers of 

 rabbits, rats and mice, as we know by an examination of their nests. 

 Although their food consists largely of the smaller rodents, later in 

 the season they destroy many beetles and other insects, and seldom 

 molest insectivorous birds. 



