BIRDS 129 



five hundred and seventy-one animals, mostly hawks and owls, 

 were killed under this law. The probable loss in poultry 

 from these animals, estimates 1 Dr. C. H. Merriam, amounted 

 to about 5,000 fowls per year, which, if valued at 25 cents 

 apiece, would amount to $1,875 i n one an d a half years. This 

 price is fair, as most of the poultry was young. So the state 

 was taxed $90,000 to save $1,875, which the farmers and legis- 

 lators soon saw was bad economy. But the loss to the state 

 was really greater, says Dr. Merriam, if we think of the useful 

 owls and hawks that were killed, and of the loss of many 

 thousand dollars' worth of grain caused by field mice, gophers, 

 etc., which were allowed to live. Figuring on the grain eaten 

 by the mice, and on the capacity of three or four mice per 

 owl each day, he estimates a loss in grain of $3,500,000 in 

 the one and a half years that the law was in force. This is 

 an excellent object-lesson. Common hawks and owls, ex- 

 cepting the sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawk, and the great 

 horned owl, are much more beneficial than harmful, and 

 should not be killed. 



The English sparrow has acquired a rather bad reputation 

 in this land, though when first introduced it was hoped that 

 it would be useful in destroying insects. About 1850, various 

 eastern cities were afflicted with a scourge of cankerworms 

 that destroyed the foliage of the shade trees in the streets 

 and parks, and thereby injured the trees. It was thought 

 that the English or house sparrow, being accustomed to city 

 life, would rid our cities of these plagues. So, in 1850, several 

 pairs of sparrows were imported and set free in Brooklyn, 

 and a few years later a large lot were brought to the same 

 city and other places, and the bird became established. Not 



1 Report, i886 3 Ornithologist of U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



