Birds of Pennsylvania. 59 



liowever, 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, ac- 

 cording 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-sliinned Hawk, 

 which certainly is destructive to the smaller birds, my experience 

 leads me to regard as very decidedly beneficial to man. their food con- 

 sisting very largely, if not chiefly, of the smaller rodents, field mice 

 especially. The Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks occasionally 

 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 numbers 

 of grasshoppers, locusts and other large insects. 

 " Very truly yours, 



'• Robert Ridgway, 

 " Curator^ Dept. Birds. 



" Smithsonian Institution, 

 " Washington, D. C, March 3, 1886. 

 '' 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 an- 

 swer 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 re- 

 pealed, 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 Avorth 

 while to suspend judgment until a thorough investigation 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 circum- 

 stances may be chiefly beneficial. 



" I remain, yours sincerely, 



" Leonard Stejneger, 



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



"■ Washington, March 3, 1886. 

 " B. H. Warren, M. D., West Chester. Pa. : 



" Dear Sir : In reply to your favor of the 1st inst., asking for my 

 opinion with regard to the economic utility of the birds of prey, I 



