THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF IOWA 



Introduction. 



The aim of this work is to convince the people of Iowa that our 

 Hawks and Owls are a positive asset rather than a liability to the 

 agricultural interests of the state. It would be illuminating, if space 

 permitted, to review the unfortunate experiences of Pennsylvania 

 and Colorado, where bounties were paid on these birds with a view 

 to their extermination. It may suffice to say that the expenditure 

 of tens of thousands of dollars in bounties resulted in the loss of 

 millions of dollars in crops which the unchecked rodents and the in- 

 sects, the natural food of these birds, subsequently devoured. 



A review of the notable series of records by Dr. A. X. Fisher, in 

 his Hawks and Owls of the United States, reveals the fact that of 

 the 2,690 stomach records from seventy-three species there listed, 

 only twenty-one are from Iowa birds, five counties being represented 

 by ten different species. Of the 562 stomachs of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk listed by Dr. Fisher there is the report on but a single Iowa 

 specimen, although the Red-tailed Hawk is the most conspicuous of 

 our diurnal birds of prey. In a state whose wealth lies chiefly in 

 its tillable soil, the protection of growing and ripened crops is of 

 first importance. No factor should be omitted in the problem of 

 increasing the output. Accordingly every agency that can be brought 

 to our assistance in the prevention of the annual destruction of seed, 

 or blade, or ripened grain, should be utilized. 



The vultures, hawks and owls of Iowa, represented by no less than 

 forty kinds and varieties, are, with the exception of a few species, 

 among the most efficient of all agencies, natural or otherwise, that 

 protect the crops of Iowa. These birds respond aggressively to that 

 primal instinct, the desire for food, and possess a powerful and rapid 

 digestive apparatus which does not allow the appetite long respite. 

 Their swift, sure flight, sharp talons, and strong beaks make them 

 our best allies in our otherwise unsuccessful fight against insect and 

 rodent enemies. The popular opinion that birds of prey are wholly 

 harmful has so firm a hold on the minds of the majority of people 

 that nothing but a demonstration will change that opinion ; and it is 



