ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



14.-) 



Figure 150. — Female Bobolink. 



wren, blackbird, etc., which 

 feed principally on insects 

 that are found on or near 

 the ground. The insects 

 that fly, like mosquitoes, 

 gnats, and house flies, are 

 eaten by swifts, swallows, 

 night hawks, king birds, 

 and fly catchers. 



Among the hawks and 

 owls is found a long list 

 of beneficial birds, for the 

 screech owl, red-tailed hawk, 



and the red-shouldered hawk are almost without excep- 

 tion valuable as destroyers of shrews, moles, mice, rats, 

 weasels, and rabbits. The hawks that are partly harmful 

 are the sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, and the marsh 

 hawk. All of these help themselves to poultry and feed on 



small beneficial birds 

 like the song sparrow 

 and bluebird. 



The exact relation of 

 birds to agriculture and 

 the foods that they cat 

 has been a subject of 

 study by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 

 Fisher reports the fol- 

 lowing' results in his 

 analysis of the stomach 

 contents of 220 red- 

 shouldered hawks : ;, » of 

 them contained poultry, 

 Figure 151. — King Bird. 12 of them held 102 



