THE BIRDS OF ONTARIO 



IX 



RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 



BY CHAELES W. NASH, TORONTO, ONT. 



The agriculturist in the Province of Ontario has annually to suffer great loss 

 from the depredations of two classes of enemies, both individually insignificant, 

 but, by reason of their numbers, very formidable. These are insects and small 

 rodents, chief among the latter being rats and all the animals usually classed as 

 mice. 



It is very difficult to make anything like a correct estimate of the average 

 damage inflicted upon the farmer by these little animals, but every man engaged 

 in farming knows by sad experience that he continually suffers from their work. 

 The enormous amount of grain they destroy, and the young trees girdled and 

 killed by them are visible to everyone ; but the creatures themselves, owing to 

 their nocturnal habits and secretive lives, are comparatively seldom seen. Their 

 enormous increase and consequent capacity for serious mischief is, of course, owing 

 to the fact that man has interfered seriously with the balance of nature, and has 

 thoughtlessly, perhaps, destroyed the principal natural enemies of these creatures. 

 Man himself is almost powerless to stop their ravages to any very great extent. 

 The constant exercise of his ingenuity in trapping, and so forth, results in very 

 little and occupies his time to no purpose. The natural enemies of these animals 

 are gifted with special faculties for their destruction, and so are able to cope with 

 them. Chief among the enemies of this class of farm pests, and the only ones we 

 shall consider now, are the birds of prey. These birds are wonderfully provided 

 by nature with the means to fulfil their part in .maintaining the correct balance 

 between the small rodents and the vegetable kingdom. They are in a manner 

 nature's police, and if not destroyed by man would so keep down the numbers of 

 these small four-footed thieves that their plundering would be scarcely noticeable. 

 Our birds of prey may be roughly divided into two classes, the hawks and the 

 owls, the first feeding by day and the other by night. Of the eagles we need say 

 but little. They are now so rarely found in the civilized districts that their influ- 

 ence for good or ill is practically nothing, except upon the game, and of that no 

 doubt,^they destroy a large quantity. 



HAWKS. 



Of the hawks there are eleven species, occurring regularly in this Province 

 in greater or less abundance every season. These are the Marsh Hawk, Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Goshawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, Broad winged Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Duck Hawk, Pigeon Hawk 



[3] 



53522ft 



