While the falcons capture their prey by- 

 superior flight across the country, the 

 accipitrines, although strong flyers, capture 

 the most of their prey by short, rapid 

 dashes, or by sharp and skilful turns upon 

 it, cutting off opportunities of escape, and 

 more frequently capturing the victim be- 

 fore the presence of danger is suspected. 



The largest and most powerful of these 

 three is the goshawk, Accipitcr atricapillus, 

 which is commonest with us during the fall 

 and winter months, when those which 

 build with us are reinforced by large mi- 

 grations from the north, and they may be 

 found about the woods, where they hunt 

 rabbits and grouse with the greatest per- 

 sistency, so that in many places it is known 

 as the partridge hawk. They do not reach 

 the full state of blue plumage till the fourth 

 or fifth year, and the older birds also seem 

 to have much more courage and agility 

 than the younger birds. I have seen one 

 of these birds dash upon a rabbit in the 

 woods, kill it with a blow and fly off with 

 it almost before I had time to realize what 

 was taking place or could raise the gun to 

 fire. When wounded they are exceedingly 

 fierce, and will seize dog or man with their 

 powerful claws without any hesitation, in- 

 flicting very disagreeable wounds. 



The record of stomachs shows in twenty 

 full stomachs ten contained mammals, 

 chiefly rabbits, while the remaining ten 

 contained poultry and game and small 

 birds, thus showing the species as a whole 

 to be equally beneficial and injurious. As 

 in many cases, the hare (Lepus Aineri- 

 canus) becomes a nuisance to growing 

 trees, and as many of these stomachs show 

 the game birds are their prey, and as the 

 goshawk remains either in or near the bush 

 most of the time, his beneficial qualities 

 overbalance the injurious, save where the 

 poultry yard is in close proximity to the 

 bush. 



The acknowledge poultry thief-in-chief 

 of the hawks is Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter 

 Cooperini.) Somewhat smaller than the 

 goshawk, it lacks none of its dash, and is 

 a close second to the falcons in speed of 

 flight, as well as being strong enough to 

 carry off full-grown chickens, grouse and 

 rabbits. These hawks are clever, shrewd 

 and cunning, soon learning the ways of 

 man. and usually pay repeated visits to the 

 poultry yard, coming unobserved and es- 

 caping with a sudden dash (and a hen) 

 before the surprised owner, who may have 

 been on the lookout, has time to turn and 

 grasp his gun. In cities, where the use of 

 firearms is prohibited, this bird has learned 

 to lurk among the evergreens in private 

 grounds, whence it dashes out into the 

 thoroughfare upon the unsuspecting spar- 



rows and pigeons. Of this species Dr. 

 Fisher says : 



" If they confined their persecution to the 

 pesky little sparrow, they would be public 

 benefactors, as the problem of keeping 

 that imported nuisance in check would 

 then be solved." 



The stomach records show in 84 full 

 stomachs, 34, or about 36 per cent., poul- 

 try, 16 per cent, mice, mammals and in- 

 sects, and the balance other birds of doubt- 

 ful economic value — not a terrible record 

 for the most injurious species. 



The last of the hawks we have to deal 

 with is almost a twin brother of Cooper's 

 hawk, and so near does it approach it in 

 size that it is at times difficult to determine 

 a small Cooper's hawk from a large sharp- 

 shinned, unless one has a sight of the 

 rounded tail of the former species. 



The sharp-shinned hawk {Accipiter 

 velox) is a well-known species of our 

 small hawks, and may be seen during the 

 spring and fall perched upon a telegraph 

 or fence post or sailing about over the 

 woods and fields in search of prey, the long 

 square based tail serving always as a mark 

 of identifiation. They are bold, daring little 

 fellows, and do not hesitate to attack birds 

 much larger than themselves. They are 

 fond of the vicinity of man and do good 

 service about settlements in persecuting 

 the English sparrows. The large majority 

 of the bad records against them is on ac- 

 count of their raids upon small birds, in 

 cases the economic values of the species 

 is doubtful, and I am certain that in the 

 fall this species does good service in per- 

 secuting the blackbirds, which are so num- 

 erous in the province, and this at a time 

 when the blackbirds are destroying grain. 

 The table of storn^ach examinations show 

 Accipiter velox to be very slightly injur- 

 ious to poultry, as in 107 full stomachs 

 only six showed signs of poultry or game 

 birds (less than 6 per cent), while eleven 

 contained mice and insects, the remainder 

 small birds ; so that if English soarrows 

 and blackbirds could be proven to form the 

 preference in these cases, Accipitcr velox 

 might be considered a mostly beneficial 

 species, instead of harmful. 



EAMILY STRIGIDAE. 



The owls, for several reasons, are a very 

 interesting and peculiar family of birds. 

 They are chiefly nocturnal, continuing 

 through the hours of darkness the persecu- 

 tion carried on upon our small animal pests 

 by the hawks in the daytime. But, though 

 they work under shadow of darkness, they 

 do not escape the persecution which big- 

 oted prejudice and a little knowledge are 

 pleased to inflict upon all birds of prey. 



