SOMETHING ABOUT BIRDS [19] 



water, petrel, and albatross tribes, as well as gulls and terns, that pick 

 their food from its surface. The marshes and shallows grown to masses 

 of vegetation furnish food and shelter for rails, herons, ducks, geese, 

 cranes, ibises, and many shore birds. Such species as mergansers and the 

 diving ducks feed under water in the fresh-water areas, and auks, auklets, 

 murres, puffins, guillemots, and cormorants obtain their food from the 

 depths of the open ocean and the larger bays. 



Hawks and eagles by day and owls by night act as a check on the 

 myriads of rodents in Oregon, and, because of the seriousness of the rodent 

 problem in this and other Western States, these birds should be preserved, 

 rather than persecuted, as at present. Some species, including the Prairie 

 Falcon, the Duck Hawk, and the Goshawk, are universally condemned 

 because they feed upon game birds, small songbirds, and poultry. There 

 are so few of these raptors left, however, that their effect upon bird 

 populations is negligible, and they should not be molested, as they are 

 the most magnificent birds of prey in existence. No other birds are so 

 swift, so fierce, and so untamable as are the Duck Hawks and the Prairie 

 Falcons, and certainly something would be missing from the landscape 

 for the nature lover if he knew that never again would he see these 

 falcons strike with thunderbolt speed. 



Buzzards are pre-eminently scavengers and are assisted by the gulls 

 along the littoral, and by crows, magpies, and ravens everywhere. They 

 clean up the carcasses of dead animals, dead and dying fish, and other 

 things that would become excessively offensive if allowed to accumulate. 



This brief review of some of the more spectacular and interesting phases 

 of bird activity and behavior is not intended to be a complete treatise on 

 any one subject, but simply to point out those of major interest. All 

 these activities have been written up elsewhere at considerable length, 

 and books and pamphlets concerning them are available in most libraries. 



