157 



.Air. Hobeit l{id!,nv:iy found (lie stom;u'lis iuid crops 

 of llu'se hawks which he obtained at Pyramid Lake, 

 Nevada, •'filh'd to iheii- ulniost capacity with the re- 

 mains of small lizards, and nothing else." 



PROTKCTS THE CROPS. 



Ttiere is another way in wliicli it protects crops, albeit 

 unconsciously, as appears from ttie following: "It is also said 

 to be very serviceable in the southern rice fields in interrupt- 

 ing the devastations made by swarms of bobolinks. As it 

 sails low and swiftly over the fields it keeps the flocks in per- 

 petual fluctuation and greatly interrupts their depredations. 

 Wilson states that one marsh hawk was considered by the 

 planters equal to several negroes for alarming the rice 

 birds.' "—(Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 218.) 



"Dr Merriam bears witness to the truth of the foregoing, 

 for while at Georgetown, South Carolina, he saw an immense 

 (lock of bobolinks driven from a field by one of these hawks, 

 which simply passed over at a considerable height, and made 

 no movement to molest them. 



"Although the hawk occasionally carries off poultry and 

 game birds, its economic value as a destroyer of mammal 

 pests is so great that its slight irregularities should be par- 

 doned. Unfortunately, however, the farmer and sportsman 

 shoot it down at sight, regardless or ignorant of the fact that 

 it preserves an immense quantity of grain, thousands of 

 fruit trees and innumerable nests of game birds by destroy- 

 ing the vermin which eat the grain, girdle the trees and de- 

 vour the eggs and young of the birds."— Dr. Fisher, Bulletin 

 No. 3. 



A FRIEND OF THE FARMER. 



A study of this badly abused bird should conviiK( 

 any fair-minded person that it is one of the most bene- 

 licial of the birds of prey. It shouUl be allowed to 

 multiply and not be wantonly slaughtei'ed by farmers 

 and jiuuners, .siniiily for no better reason than that it 

 is a "hawk.' It is a most persistent hunter of meadow 

 mice, which in recent years have done so much dam- 

 age in many parts ol Pennsylvania. This surely enti- 

 tles it to protection; and if farmers and others who dc 

 stroy the Marsh HaA^ks which visit their ])remises were 

 aware, of the benefit these birds do, 1 am contideiil 

 such cruel slaughter would cease, and great good 



