64 BIRDS OF PREY 



I do not advocate the extermination of this bird: far 

 from it; but it does seem quite clear that its numbers should 

 be strictly limited by the use of firearms. 



THE HAWKS of North America above Mexico form a group 

 of about thirty-four species, not counting subspecies, and the 

 conspicuous types are well worth serious attention. 1 Some 

 of them are useful to man, and some are so destructive and 

 generally useless that they deserve death. It is highly im- 

 portant that hawk enemies should be distinguishable from 

 hawk friends. 



THE RED-TAILED HAWK 2 is the greatest of all destroyers 

 of noxious four-footed animals. It might well be called the 

 Mammal-Eater, instead of being universally miscalled the 

 HEN HAWK, or CHICKEN HAWK. 



The species of the above name inhabits the entire eastern 

 half of the United States, and ranges westward to the Rocky 

 Mountains, where it meets the subspecies known as the 

 Western Red-Tail. By reason of the abundance of this bird, 

 and its undoubted influence for good or evil upon agricultural 

 communities, the Department of Agriculture has made a 

 study of it which was particularly thorough. From Arizona 

 to Connecticut, and in all seasons of the year, collections were 

 made, until finally 562 stomachs had been collected and ex- 

 amined. 



The result was a complete vindication of the moral char- 



1 To avoid the possibility of confusion, attention is called to the fact that the 

 sparrow hawk, pigeon hawk and duck hawk, already described, belong to Falco, 

 the genus of the falcons, a group quite distinct from those of the hawks now to be 

 introduced. 



2 Bu'te-o bo-re-al'is. Average length of male, about 21 inches; female, 24 

 inches. 



