A PLEA FOR OUR HAWKS AND OWLS. 



227 



ture intended that the insect should live 

 on the plant and the bird upon the insect, 

 the fungus upon the green leaf and the 

 parasite on the host-plant. She grants 

 immunity to the apple tree growing in 

 Canadian forests and to the potato strug- 

 gling for life in the wilds of Virginia, but 

 she refuses to protect forests of fruit trees 

 or extended plantations of potatoes. By 

 extensive planting of any one species of 

 vegetation we disarrange nature's equili- 

 brium and against odds we must maintain 

 the balance ourselves. By adding acre 

 to acre of any crop we increase the feed- 

 ing ground of insects that live upon that 

 crop, and of course they increase accord- 

 ingly. But the question consequently 

 arises, Why do birds not maintain the bal- 

 ance of nature and protect our gardens 

 and orchards? They would do so if al- 

 lowed, but sadly reduced in numbers they 

 are quite unable for the task. Our na- 

 tive birds of late years are becoming 

 alarmingly scarce. Decimated by the gun 

 of the bird collector, driven out by the 

 English sparrow, and robbed by the 

 thoughtless small boy, birds are now 

 scarcely a factor in the problem of crop 

 protection. One is forcibly reminded of 

 the fact at this time, in seeing birds re- 

 turning from the south. Where are our 

 old friends, the lovely blue bird, the old- 

 fashioned phoebe, and the once ubiqui- 

 tous barn swallow? We deplore their de- 

 pleted numbers, and must ourselves do 

 their work of destroying noxious insects 

 and protecting our crops. 



There are, however, worse injuries to 

 trees than having their foliage eaten off or 

 their fruit injured. Mice may in a few 

 days in winter so girdle trees that they 

 are completely ruined. Spraying, if care- 

 fully persisted in, will control insect pests, 

 but over rodents working under winter 

 snows we have little or no power. This 



spring, from Essex to Ottawa, complaints 

 are heard of great destruction to trees by 

 mice. Thousands of nursery trees have 

 been destroyed, hundreds of orchards par- 

 tially or totally ruined, and even vine- 

 yards are reported as suffering. This too 

 is a very natural result of a natural cause. 

 Our rapacious birds, the hawks and owls, 

 which live chiefly on mice and other ro- 

 dents, have become quite scarce. Hawks 

 are not nearly as common as formerly, 

 while owls are scarcely found except in 

 museum cases. In sviffering from this 

 plague of mice, the orchardist is paying 

 for the destruction of our rapacious birds. 

 It seems almost a waste of time to take 

 good care of an orchard in summer only 

 to have it girdled and destroyed in winter. 

 We would not by any means disparage 

 spraying, or other means of protecting 

 trees, but it seems that it would be wise 

 to give more attention to the cause of the 

 trouble. 



By accurate examinations of their stom- 

 ach contents, it has been found that ra- 

 ppcious birds are most useful, in spite of 

 some small birds killed or an occasional 

 chicken taken. Instead of running for a 

 gun when a hawk or owl is seen, it should 

 be protected in every way. It is de- 

 plorable that when a flock of northern 

 snowy owls visit our shores it should be 

 pursued till all are turned into bird mum- 

 mies. The most practical thing that 

 could be done for horticulture is the jeal- 

 ous protection of all birds, and particular- 

 ly those of rapacious habits. Our boys 

 should be taught their great value, and 

 shown that during resting season birds 

 should never be molested. If hunting 

 were done with camera instead of with 

 gun, the pleasure and profit of the chase 

 would be increased, and the whole coun- 

 try would rejoice at the decrease of injuri- 

 ous pests and the increase of native birds. 



