1g THE EXTENSION 
stroyed through ignorance of the economic relations of our 
common birds and mammals.’’ The above view was well 
substantiated by subsequent developments and investiga- 
tion. Fortunately no such folly has occurred in North Da- 
kota as the passage of a law paying a bounty on Hawks and 
Owls, nevertheless, this undiscriminating slaughter still goes 
on beeause of prejudice and just for the fun of shooting 
something. If it be true, (and it is well within the true 
value) that each Hawk and Owl on the average is worth 
$20 per year to the farmer it is high time that people stop- 
ped to think and discriminate before shooting. No sane 
man would deliberately shoot a farmer’s pig or calf worth 
$20 just for fun. Then why shoot these birds which are 
equally valuable to the farmer and the state? 
There are three Hawks, Cooper, Sharp-shinned and 
Goshawk, and one Owl, Great-horned Owl, that are positive- 
ly harmful and may very properly be shot. But the rest of 
the Hawks and Owls commonly resident in North Dakota 
belong to the class which are either entirely beneficial or 
the beneficial qualitities outweigh the harmful. The harm- 
ful features of these latter may readily be overcome by 
reasonable protection of the poultry, encouraging King- 
birds and Purple Martins to nest about the poultry yard 
or premises and occasionally shooting a particular Hawk 
or Owl which is positively known to have acquired the habit 
of killing poultry. The latter method will seldom need to 
be employed. For further information consult the ltera- 
ture cited beyond, especially ‘‘Hawks and Owls from the 
Standpoint of the Farmer,’’ by A. K. Fisher or ‘Useful 
Birds and their Protection,’’ by E. H. Forbush. 
Birds and Weed Seeds. Birds are occasionally accused 
of scattering weed seed by earrying them in mud on their 
feet or dropping them with the excrement. This is so small 
an item compared with the enormous number of weed seeds 
destroyed as to be negligible. Anyone who will take the trou- 
ble to go out through the weed patches during September, 
October and November while the Juncos, White-throated, 
Harris and Tree Sparrows and others are migrating can see 
abundant evidence of the hosts of helpers in the constant 
struggle of the farmer to keep down the weeds. Continu- 
ing this observation through the winter, spring and sum- 
mer will be a revelation to any alert, thoughtful observer. 
According to the careful investigations and estimate of F. 
E. L. Beal of the U. S. Biological Survey, the Tree Spar- 
rows alone destroy 875 tons of weed seed annually in the 
