USEFUL BIRDS OF PREY. 



(ill T is claimed that two hundred 

 millions of dollars that should 

 go to the farmer, the gardner, 

 (? J I and the fruit grower in the 

 United States are lost every 

 year by the ravages of insects — that is 

 to say, one-tenth of our agricultural 

 product is actually destroyed by them. 

 The Department of Agriculture has 

 made a thorough investigation of this 

 subject, and its conclusions are about 

 as stated. The ravages of the Gypsy 

 Moth in three counties in Massachu- 

 setts for several years annually cost 

 the state $100,000. "Now, as rain is 

 the natural check to drought, so birds 

 are the natural check to insects, for 

 what are pests to the farmer are 

 necessities of life to the bird. It is 

 calculated that an average insectivor- 

 ous bird destroys 2,400 insects in 

 a year ; and when it is remembered 

 that there are over 100,000 kinds of 

 insects in the United States, the ma- 

 jority of which are injurious, and that 

 in some cases a single individual in a 

 year may become the progenitor of 

 several billion descendants, it is seen 

 how much good birds do ordinarily by 

 simple prevention." All of which has 

 reference chiefly to the indispensable- 

 ness of preventing by every possible 

 means the destruction of the birds 

 whose food largely consists of insects. 

 But many of our so-called birds of 

 prey, which have been thought to be 

 the enemies of the agriculturist and 

 have hence been ruthlessly destroyed, 

 are equally beneficial. Dr. Fisher, an 

 authority on the subject, in referring 

 to the injustice which has been done 

 to many of the best friends of the farm 

 and garden, says : 



" The birds of prey, the majority of 

 which labor night and day to destroy 

 the enemies of the husbandman, are 

 persecuted unceasingly. This has 

 especially been the case with the Hawk 

 family, only three of the common in- 



land species being harmful. These 

 are the Goshawk, Cooper's Hawk, and 

 the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the first of 

 which is rare in the United States, 

 except in winter. Cooper's Hawk, or 

 the Chicken Hawk, is the most des- 

 tructive, especially to Doves. The 

 other Hawks are of great value, one 

 of which, the Marsh Hawk, being 

 regarded as perhaps more useful than 

 any other. It can be easily distin- 

 guished by its white rump and its 

 habit of beating low over the meadows. 

 Meadow Mice, Rabbits, and Squirrels 

 are its favorite food. The Red-tailed 

 Hawk, or Hen Hawk, is another. It 

 does not deserve the name, for accord- 

 ing to Dr. Fisher, while fully sixty- 

 six per cent of its food consists of 

 injurious mammals, not more than 

 seven per cent consists of poultry, and 

 that it is probable that a large propor-^ 

 tion of the poultry and game captured 

 by it and the other Buzzard Hawks is 

 made up of old, diseased, or otherwise 

 disabled fowls, so preventing their 

 interbreeding with the sound stock 

 and hindering the spread of fatal epi- 

 demics. It eats Ground Squirrels, 

 Rabbits, Mice, and Rats. 



The Red-shouldered Hawk, whose 

 picture we present to our readers, is as 

 useful as it is beautiful, in fact ninety 

 per cent, of its food is composed of 

 injurious mammals and insects. 



The Sparrow Hawk (See Birds, vol. 

 3, p. 107) is another useful member of 

 this family. In the warm months 

 Grasshoppers, Crickets, and other in- 

 sects compose its food, and Mice during 

 the rest of the year. 



Swainson's Hawk is said to be the 

 great Grasshopper destroyer of the 

 west, and it is estimated that in a 

 month three hundred of these birds 

 save sixty tons of produce that the 

 Grasshopper would destroy. 



56 



