COOPER'S HAWK (Accipiter 

 cooperi). 



Length, about 15 inches. Me- 

 dium sized, with long tail and 

 short wings, and without Uie 

 white patch on rump which is 

 characteristic of the marsh hawk. 

 ^JtS i-« j^Jjjfej^ Range : Breeds throughout 



'^/T^^^BF most of the United States and 



southern Canada; winters from 

 the United States to Costa Rica, 

 Habits and economic status: 

 The Cooper's hawk, or "blue 

 darter, " as it is familiarly known 

 throughout the South, is pre- 

 eminently a poultry and bird-eating species, and its destructiveness in this 

 direction is surpassed only by that of its larger congener, the goshawk, which 

 occasionally in autmnn and winter enters the United States from the North in 

 great numbers. The almost universal prejudice against birds of prey is largely 

 due to the activities of these two birds, assisted by a third, the sharp-shinned 

 hawk, which in habits and appearance might well pass for a small Cooper's 

 hawk. These birds usually approach undercover and drop upon unsuspecting 

 victims, making great inroads upon poultry yards and game coverts favorably 

 situated for this style of hunting. Out of 123 stomachs examined, 38 contained 

 the remains of poultry and game birds, 66 the remains of other birds, and 12 

 the remains of mammals. Twenty-eight species of wild birds were identified 

 in the above-mentioned material. This destructive hawk, together with its 

 two near relatives, should be destroyed by every possible means. (See Biol. 

 Survey Bui. 3, pp. 38-43.) 



MOURNING DOVE (Zenaidura macroura). 



Length, 12 inches. The dark spot on the side of the neck distinguishes this 

 bird from all other native doves and pigeons except the white-winged dove. 

 The latter has the upper third of wing white. 



Range: Breeds throughout the United States and in Mexico, Guatemala, and 

 southern Canada; winters from the central United States to Panama. 



Habits and economic status: The food of the mourning dove is practically all 

 vegetable matter (over 99 per cent), principally seeds of plants, including grain. 

 Wheat, oats, rye, com, barley, and buckwheat were found in 150 out of 237 

 stomachs, and constituted 32 per cent of the food. Three-fourths of this was 

 waste grain picked up after harvest. The principal and almost constant diet is 

 weed seeds, which are eaten throughout the year and constitute 64 per cent of 



the entire food. In one stomach 

 were found 7,500 seeds of yellow 

 wood sorrel, in another 6,400 

 seeds of barn grass or foxtail, and 

 in a third 2,600 seeds of slender 

 paspalum, 4,820 of orange hawk- 

 weed, 950 of hoary vervain, 120 of 

 Carolina cranesbill, 50 of yellow 

 wood sorrel, 620 of panic grass, 

 and 40 of various other weeds. 

 None of these are useful, and most 

 of them are troublesome weeds. 

 The dove does not eat insects 

 or other animal food. It should 

 be protected in every possible 

 way. (See Farmers' Bui, 54, pp. 

 6-7.) 



694 



