80 USEFUL BIRDS. 



small Owls I have almost invariably found that the food 

 consisted very largely of field mice and wood mice, with a 

 feAV shrews, and rarely a bird or two. Several species of 

 Hawks seem to feed almost entirely on field mice, small 

 reptiles, batrachians, and insects. 



The young of Hawks and Owls remain a long time in the 

 nest, and require a great quantity of food. They probably 

 tax the resources of the parent birds excessively in the eti'ort 

 to find enough food for them ; hence some species are forced 

 to commit depredations on the })oultry yard, while a few kill 

 birds and })oultry from choice. But most of these birds are, 

 on the whole, useful to the farmer. Dr. Fisher, having ex- 

 amined the contents of two thousand six hundred and ninety 

 stomachs of Hawks and Owls from various parts of the United 

 States, and collected the evidence of many observers, con- 

 cludes that Owls are among the most beneficial of all ])irds ; 

 and that Hawks, with possibly one or two exceptions, are in 

 some degree beneficial to the farmer, 



THE VALUE OF WATER-BIRDS AND SHORE BIRDS. 



Man}^ shore birds are to some extent insectivorous. Many 

 Gulls and Terns might be reckoned among the friends of the 

 farmer, were they fully protected liy law and public senti- 

 ment, as they now are in some countries and in some west- 

 ern localities in our own country. But here they have been 

 so persecuted that they usually keep well away from the 

 vicinity of field and farm. Even as it is, however, they ren- 

 der some service to man. Certain water-birds are useful to 

 navigators, fishermen, and pilots. In thick summer weather 

 the appearance of Terns or Gulls in numbers, or the sound 

 of their clamorous voices, gives warning to the mariner that 

 he is nearing the rocks on which they breed. Shore fisher- 

 men enshrouded in fog can tell the direction of the islands 

 on which the birds live by watching their undeviating flight 

 homeward with food for their young. The keen senses of 

 sea birds enable them to head direct for their nests, even in 

 dense mist. Fishermen often discover schools of fish by 

 watching the sea birds, that, like the larger fish, pursue the 

 small fry. 



