39 



fall I visited an extensive roost, finding the feathers and a few 

 other remains of a freshly killed crow. At the spot where the 

 crow was borne to the ground were found the strong imprints 

 of the characteristic wing tips of the great horned owl. These 

 owls habitually take crows from their roosts or nests at night. 

 In return, the crows always mob an owl if they can find one in 

 the day time. While we have been proscribing the crow and 

 shooting it at sight, we have been protecting it by shooting every 

 owl that comes within range of our guns. No doubt it is mainly 

 for this reason that crows have multiplied, in spite of this perse- 

 cution. In our "robin roost" the crows are now in the ascend- 

 ant; even the jays raised but three broods there last season. One 

 brood was taken by a hawk and one at least by crows before 

 they were fully fledged. 1 



Hawks are better fitted perhaps than any other creature to 

 pursue and kill other birds, and certain of them may be regarded 

 as among the worst enemies of birds; but they have not been 

 placed first in our list of bird enemies, because they are not 

 especially numerous in the vicinity of the farm. Although all 

 hawks when hungry will seize other birds whenever they can 

 get them, there are only a few that are quick enough to follow 

 and catch small birds in flight. Most of our hawks, therefore, 

 content themselves mainly with picking up such insects, small 

 mammals, reptiles and frogs as they can easily get, and such 

 birds as they are able to catch unawares. The Cooper hawk, 

 sharp-shinned hawk and duck hawk, which are among the 

 greatest enemies of small birds, are not common about the farm 

 at present, although the sharp-shinned hawk is occasionally 

 seen. There is really but one hawk, in the neighborhood, that 

 kills many birds or chickens, and that is the marsh hawk, which 

 is now usually regarded as one of the most useful of all hawks. 



This hawk is frequently held up as a model by popular writers 

 on bird protection. Such expressions as, "it never touches a 

 chicken," and "seldom kills birds," have been frequently used. 

 Here, however, a hungry marsh hawk will take a chicken or a 

 bird when a good chance presents itself. I have known the 

 marsh hawk to kill snipe, song sparrows, young blue jays and 



1 Crows are sometimes attacked by a contagious disease, either identical with or 

 similar to the roup of poultry. See " The Auk," Vol. XX., p. 57. 



