1 82 Birds of Oregon and Washington 



HAWKS AND OWLS. 



There are two species of birds that are vic- 

 tims of prejudice and indiscriminating ignorance. 

 They have been treated like snakes, and have 

 been killed at sight by nearly everybody who 

 could use a gun. They are the Hawks and the 

 Owls. 



In respect of these, as of some of the other 

 birds described in this book, their enemy, man, 

 has reaped the fruit of his own ignorance and 

 folly in two important regards ; he has done 

 what he could to destroy objects of great beauty 

 and interest, and, secondly, he has killed off 

 some of the greatest benefactors to the agricul- 

 tural interests of the country. The food supply 

 of nearly all our Hawks and Owls consists of 

 mice, insects and reptiles, and not of chickens, 

 or even of birds. In the East, only two of the 

 common varieties of Hawks live upon birds and 

 poultry. Dr. Fisher of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Washington has examined hundreds of 

 stomachs of Hawks and Owls, with results like 

 the following : Of the 220 stomachs of the Red- 

 shouldered Hawk of the East, which is usually 

 called the " Chicken " or " Hen-Hawk," only 



