276 Twelve Months With 



throughout this latitude, the Cooper hawk (accipi- 

 ter Cooperii), and the sharp-shinned hawk 

 (accipiter velox). The accipiters who do all the 

 damage, are treacherous and stealthy, like most vil- 

 lains, whereas the buteos, who are blamed for all 

 their rascalities, innocently soar above in the open 

 blue of heaven, wholly unconscious of all the popu- 

 lar prejudice against them. 



A Cooper hawk, whose flight is as swift and 

 unerring as any arrow, will suddenly swoop down 

 out of nowhere and harry a poultry yard and kill 

 three or four chicks in a flash and get away without 

 being seen, and in the meantime a red-tailed or 

 red-shouldered hawk, entirely innocent of any 

 wrong doing or evil intentions, will soar into view, 

 and down comes the vindictive shot gun, and down 

 comes the innocent bird, murdered in cold blood 

 for the crimes of another. 



The buteos on the western plains are fond of 

 prairie dogs, and some years ago the farmers and 

 ranchmen, possessed of the common prejudice 

 against these birds, killed large numbers of them, 

 and the prairie dogs soon became so numerous as 

 to be a very serious pest, and at the request of these 

 same farmers and ranchmen, United States Bio- 

 logical Survey officials endeavored to find some 

 means to abate the plague, and one of the first 

 recommendations made was that the hawks be pro- 

 tected. This is another striking illustration of the 

 unwisdom of interfering with nature's laws. 



The hawks, as a family, are admirable birds, and 



