WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 85 



course, if the owner of the place prefers ducks to 

 hawks. 1 



Dr. Field, chairman of the Massachusetts Commission 

 of Fisheries and Game, says that the marsh hawk is very 

 destructive to the grouse on Martha's Vineyard. 



The reader will find the hawks discussed at length in 

 a bulletin issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, 2 but in reading it he should remember that 

 the conclusions stated are founded largely upon stomach 

 examinations and that such evidence is not always re- 

 liable. Since game is everywhere very scarce no doubt 

 many of the specimens examined had no chance to eat 

 game, and it does not follow that any of the hawks would 

 not take young ducks or other game in places where the 

 game was abundant. The safe rule is to observe what 

 the hawks are doing on the rearing field and to act ac- 

 cordingly. 



Gulls. — Some gulls undoubtedly take eggs and young 

 ducks, but all gulls, even in the same flock, it is claimed, 

 are not equally bad. A gamekeeper on an English pre- 

 serve, who observed that gulls were destroying his ducks, 

 killed the pair which were thus engaged, and he is re- 

 ported to have said that the other gulls did no harm 

 thereafter. 



The Rev. H. A. Macpherson says some gulls are very 

 destructive to grouse as well as to ducks. "The lesser 

 black-backed gull," he says, "is a shameless gourmand 

 and does a great amount of mischief. He likes the young 



1 The marsh hawk is classed as a beneficial hawk by ornithologists, 

 but I shot one which had a quail in its talons as it flew overhead, and 

 Audubon says when impelled by hunger it will attack partridges, plov- 

 ers and teal. It should be killed only when it appears to be preying on 

 game. 2 "Hawks and Owls." Bulletin, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



