BIRDS OF PREY. 167 



bird to all who live in the country. So eager, at 

 times, are these hawks for mice, that they tear open 

 their run-ways in the grass and so find them when 

 otherwise they would have escaped. The marsh- 

 hawk does not confine himself to the lowlands. 

 They scour our upland fields for mice and so do a 

 vast amount of good, for there can be no question 

 but that our clover-fields sadly suffer from an excess 

 of this pest, a condition that would not obtain were 

 it not for the senseless prejudice against snakes. 

 Dr. Coues says, 



" The Marsh Harrier belongs among the ' ignoble' birds of the 

 falconers, but is neither a weakling nor a coward. . . . Still, under 

 ordinary circumstances, its spirit is hardly commensurate with its 

 physique, and its quarry is humble." 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk is not likely to have 

 any friends among the farmers, and at this we can- 

 not wonder. Its impudence would be against it even 

 if it did no harm, but its fondness for young poultry 

 is undeniable. I was told the following by an old 

 lady some years ago, but do not believe it, as the 

 imagination of the narrator was known to be lively. 

 She said that finding a brood of young chickens 

 some distance from the house, she gathered them up 

 in her apron and was about to start home, when a 

 sharp-shinned hawk a cunnin' little blue hawk, she 

 called it dashed down and took one from her lap. 



These small hawks vary greatly in numbers in 

 some localities. I have known them to be very abun- 

 dant and to work sad havoc among the small birds 

 of the neighborbood, and then to become very rare, 

 almost none being seen for a year or more. While 



