46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



State of Ohio, paid over ten thousand dollars, and of this 

 sum, it is said, about seven thousand dollars were paid for 

 hawk and owl heads. 



Early in 1886, or as soon as our people became aware of 

 the workings and effect of the law, much dissatisfaction was 

 expressed by farmers and others. Under the direction of 

 the Pennsylvania State Board of Agriculture, I began mak- 

 ing a careful study of the food habits of the hawks and owls, 

 and obtained the bodies of over three hundred and fifty of 

 these birds on which bounties had been paid. The contents 

 of the crops and stomachs of these bodies were carefully 

 examined by myself or by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and his 

 assistants of the United States department of agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, and we found that ninety-five per cent 

 of the food materials of these so-called noxious hawks and 

 owls consisted, not of poultry and game, but of mice, other 

 destructive quadrupeds, grasshoppers and many injurious 

 beetles. This array of evidence being presented, through 

 our State Board, to the Legislature, but little trouble was 

 experienced in securing the repeal of the odious " scalp act" 

 of 1885. * 



Mr. President, a brief history of the "bounty law" of 

 Pennsylvania has been given :it this time, owing to the fact 

 that I have learned since coming here that there is a disposi- 

 tion in some sections of Massachusetts to have a general law 

 passed by which premiums will be given for hawks, owls 

 and certain beneficial mammals, slain in this Commonwealth. 

 In fact, sir, you have in localities of your State local bounty 

 acts which are now in force. From the annual report of the 

 finances of Falmouth, Mass., for the year 1888, I see that 

 fifty-one dollars were given for the killing of a like number 

 of hawks. Legislation of this character is, I assure you, 

 detrimental to the interests of agriculture, and should be 

 opposed by every farmer throughout the whole length and 

 breadth of the Bay State, as well as the country at large. 

 The destructive habits of the English sparrow are so well 

 known that the farmers and fruit growers of Massachusetts, 

 are, I am informed, in favor of having a bounty for its 

 destruction. In my opinion, the passage of such an act 

 would be detrimental to the interests of agriculture. While 



