SOME COMMON GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIRDS 

 IN RELATION TO MAN. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Game and aquatic birds, as a rule, have less economic interest 

 than the species more closely associated with man. Nevertheless 

 nearly all aquatic birds have important relations with the fishing 

 industry. One of the birds, the horned grebe, sometimes accused 

 of living entirely upon fish, is here shown to feed largely on craw- 

 fish, other crustaceans, and insects. Terns also have been held 

 responsible for the serious reduction of food fishes in some localities, 

 but a careful study of their food habits demonstrates that only a 

 small proportion of their diet consists of such fishes. On account of 

 the relatively small number of terns it is manifestly impossible for 

 them to do all the damage attributed to them even if they fed exclu- 

 sively on food fishes. Certain aquatic birds approach the land birds 

 in feeding habits; examples are Franklin's gull and the black tern, 

 both of which by their destruction of insects are beneficial to man 

 All the shore birds are strikingly beneficial in their food habits, and 

 the slaughter of these game birds deprives the farmer of valuable 

 allies against some of the worst crop pests. The food habits of the 

 upland plover and killdeer are here described as illustrating the 

 beneficial qualities of the group. The gallinaceous game birds, as 

 quail, grouse, and pheasants, take far less insect food than the shore 

 birds, yet all of them do a certain amount of good. Because of 

 their close contact with crops it is important that their economic 

 relations be made widely known. 



The hawks and owls have a bad name, but for the most part it is 

 undeserved, and indiscriminate persecution of these birds is a serious 

 mistake. Accounts of six species are given in this bulletin in order 

 to point out the distinction between injurious hawks and owls and 

 useful ones. The latter should be carefully protected. 



PRAIRIE CHICKEN. 



(Tympanuchus americanus.) 



The prairie chicken (fig. 1), now common only in Kansas, Nebraska, 

 Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Manitoba, is one of the birds which 

 formerly occurred over a much wider range than at present and in 



NOTE. A list giving the titles of all Farmers' Bulletins available for distribution 

 will be sent free upon application to a Member of Congress or the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture. 



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