157 



•Ml-. liohfil Kid-^wjiv found Uie slomaclis and crops 

 of (hose hawks wliicli he obtained at Pyi-aniid Lake, 

 Nevada, '^filled to Iheii- utmost capacity with tlie le- 

 niaius of small lizards, and nothing else." 



PROTECTS THE CROPS. 



There is another way in which it protects crops, albeit 

 unconsciously, as appears from the fonowing: 'It is also said 

 to be very serviceable in the southern rice fields in interrupt- 

 ing the devastations made by swarms of bobolinks. As it 

 sails low ana swiftly over the fields it keeps the flocks in per- 

 petual fluctuation and gi-eatly interrupts their depredations. 

 Wilson states that one marsh hawk was considered by the 

 planters equal to several negroes for alarming the rice 

 birds.'"— (Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 218.) 



"Dr Merriam bears witness to the truth of the foregoing, 

 for while at Georgetown, South Carolina, he saw an immense 

 flock of bobolinks driven from a field by one of these hawks, 

 which simply passed over at a considerable height, and made 

 no movement to molest them. 



"Although the hawk occasionally carries off poultry and 

 game birds, its economic value as a destroyer of mammal 

 pests IS so great that its slight irregularities should be par- 

 doned. Unfortunately, however, the farmer and sportsman 

 shoot It down at .sight, regardless or ignorant of the fact that 

 It preserves an immense quantity of grain, thousands of 

 fruit trees and innumerable nests of game birds by destrov- 

 mg the vermin which eat the grain, girdle the trees and de- 

 vour ^the eggs and young of the birds."— Dr. Fisher, Bulletin 



A FRIEND OF THE PARMER. 



A study; of this badly abused bird should convince 

 any fair-minded pei-son that it is one of the most bene- 

 ficial of the birds of prey. It should be aHowed to 

 niuUii»ly and not be wantonly slau^rhtored by farmers 

 and j^unners, simijjy for no better reason than that it 

 is a "hawk.' It is a most persistent hunter of meadow 

 mice, which in recent years have done so much dam- 

 age in many paits of Pennsylvania. This surely enti- 

 tles it to protection; and if farmers and otheis who de- 

 stroy (he Marsh Hawks which visit their premises were 

 aware of the benefit these birds do, I am confident 

 such <iiiel slauo-hter would cease, and great o-ood 



