BIRDS 



I6 9 



FIG. 313. ROAD RUNNER, or chaparral bird (Tex. to Cal.). What order? 

 (Key, p. 177.) 



of mankind, but examples are scarce (some owls and 

 hawks). Many birds of prey are classed thus by mistake. 

 Sparrow hawks, for instance, do not eat birds except in 

 rare instances ; they feed chiefly upon insects. A sparrow 

 hawk often keeps watch over a field where grasshoppers 

 are plentiful and destroys great numbers of them. When 

 a bird is killed because it is supposed to be injurious, the 

 crop should always be examined, and its contents will often 

 surprise those who are sure it is a harmful bird. The 

 writer once found two frogs, three grasshoppers, and five 

 beetles that had been swallowed by a " chicken hawk " 

 killed by an irate farmer, but no sign of birds having been 

 used for food. Fowls should not be raised in open places, 

 but among trees and bushes, where hawks cannot swoop. 

 Birds which live exclusively upon fish are, of course, 

 opposed to human interests. Pigeons are destructive to 

 grain ; eagles feed chiefly upon other birds. 



If the birds eat the grapes, do not kill the birds, but plant 

 more grapes. People with two or three fruit trees or a small 



