OUR BIRDS OF PREY. 18& 



gist, Dr. Merriam, and then began to dawn a brighter day for our 

 beautiful and interesting Birds of Prey. 



Besides being himself an enthusiastic ornithologist, Dr. Merriam 

 has a large staff of assistants, both in the field and at Washington, 

 and he delegated the work of preparing a " Report on the Hawks 

 and Owls of the United States in their relation to Agriculture," to 

 his first assistant, Dr. A. K. Fisher. The work has now been pub- 

 lished, and is a credit to all connected with it. It is neatly bound, 

 has twenty-six beautiful, colored illustrations, and about 200 pages 

 of reading matter, every line of which is interesting to the lover 

 of birds, and specially valuable to those interested in any branch of 

 agriculture. It is seldom that one meets with a report on any sub- 

 ject which is at once so full and so concise ; nothing seems wanting 

 which should be there, and nothing is there which could be dispensed 

 with. It is thoroughly scientific, and yet presented in such a form 

 that all can read it intelligently. It is a work which should be 

 spread broadcast over the land, and I feel sure that if the Govern- 

 ment takes that course with it, the results will be for the good of 

 generations yet to come. 



On taking up the task assigned to him. Dr. Fisher at once found 

 that nothing short of the examination of stomachs of each of the 

 species named in the list would enable him to make a correct report 

 on the nature of their food ; and to meet all the requirements of the 

 case, these would have to be obtained at far distant points and at 

 different seasons of the year. This work has engaged much of the 

 time and attention of Dr. Fisher for several years past, while col- 

 lectors and occasional contributors have kept on sending in specimens 

 from all parts of the continent. No fewer than 2,700 stomachs have 

 been examined, and the results placed on record in the most careful 

 and impartial manner. Week after week, as the various entries were 

 made, it became apparent to the operators that the general i-esult 

 would be a surprise to nearly everyone, for some of the birds for 

 whose destruction a bounty was being paid on account of the amount 

 of game and poultry used by them, were found rarely, if ever, to 

 touch such things at all. They had really been doing a vast amount 

 of good, in the destruction of the innumerable field mice and other 

 small mammals which formed the principal part of their food, for 

 these are the greatest pests with which the farmer has to contend. 

 Others, it was found, had been making themselves useful by devour- 

 ing countless locusts and grasshoppers, which are often a serious 

 scourge in many districts in the west. 



