28 



GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIRDS. 



over its hunting ground. It follows two very different methods in securing its food, 

 one by sitting on some stub or low tree and watching the ground for the appearance of 

 its prey, as the red tail does; the other by beating back and forth just above the tops 

 of the grass or bushes, and dropping upon its victim after the manner of the marsh 

 hawk. Its food consists principally, if not almost exclusively, of the smaller rodents, 

 and most prominent among these are the arvicoline mice and lemmings. As is well 

 known, the meadow mice (Arvicolse) are widely distributed over the north temperate 

 zone, and often occur in immense numbers, overrunning certain sections of country, 

 and doing irreparable damage to crops as well as to fruit and ornamental trees. 

 Repeatedly young orchards, consisting of hundreds of trees, and representing great 



money value, have been 

 totally destroyed by 

 these pests. The dam- 

 age is done in winter, 

 under the snow, where 

 the mice eat the bark 

 from the trees, often 

 completely girdling 

 them and causing death. 

 Usually meadow mice 

 are fairly common if not 

 abundant over a large 

 part of the meadow and 

 marsh lands of the cen- 

 tral and northern United 

 States and temperate 

 Canada. To show how 

 important meadow mice 

 are to the rough leg as 

 an article of food, it 

 may be stated in general 

 terms that the southern 

 limit of its wandering 

 in winter is nearly coin- 

 cident with the southern 

 boundary of the region 

 inhabited by meadow 

 mice. In the north lem- 

 mings are abundant over 

 the country in which the rough leg makes its summer home, and furnish a never- 

 failing supply of food for old and young. 1 



Meadow mice were found in 28 stomachs, 5 or 6 occurring in 

 several, and as many as 12 in 1. A few rats, house mice, shrews, and 

 other small mammals also were found, birds appearing in only 3 

 stomachs. w. L. M. 



SPARROW HAWK. 



(Falco sparverius.) 



The sparrow hawk (fig. 13) ranges over almost the whole of North 

 America. It is the smallest as well as one of the handsomest of our 

 hawks and one of the best known. It is further distinguished by its 





FIG. 13. Sparrow hawk. 



497 



Bull. 3, Biological Survey, p. 87, 1893. 



