192 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



contained mammals and 10, insects; surely the balance here seemed to 

 be in the owl's favor. 



The Barn Owl, Strix pratincola, Fig. 120, the Screech Owl, Mega- 

 scops asio, and some others are specially useful species. . 



As a general proposition, then, the owls should by all means be 

 protected and encouraged in every way. 



The record of the hawks, 

 while not so good as that of the 

 owls, is far better than is popu- 

 larly supposed. They, too, live 

 largely upon rodent pests and a 

 few of them also destroy poultry 

 and beneficial birds. 



The hawk-like birds that are 

 considered by ornithologists to be 

 more destructive than beneficial 

 are as follows: the Gyrfalcons 

 (genus Falco) which are essen- 

 tially arctic forms ; the Duck Hawk, 

 Falco peregrinus anatum, ranging 

 over North America, especially 

 near water, where it is destruc- 

 tive to water fowl; the Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk, Accipiter velox, 

 breeding throughout the United 

 States and destroying birds and 

 poultry; Cooper's Hawk, A. 

 cooperi, Fig. 121, similar to but 

 larger than the Sharp-shinned 

 and especially destructive to poul- 



American Goshawk, A . atricapillus, is a still larger species 

 breeding north of the United States and wintering as far south as 

 Virginia. 



The hawks most commonly known as Hen Hawks or Chicken Hawks 

 are the Red-tailed, Buteo borealis, and the Red-shouldered, B. lineatus. 

 These large hawks, common in Eastern North America, are generally 

 blamed for the loss of poultry really due to Cooper's Hawk or one of the 

 other species. In studying the food of hawks, Fisher found in connec- 



PIG. 1 20. Barn owl, Strix pratin- 

 cola. X/i- Photograph from specimen. 

 (From Daugherty, Principles of Economic 

 Zoology.} 



try; the 



