The OoLOGiST. 



Vol.. XXVIII. No. 3. Albion, N. Y. Mar. 15, 1911. Whoue No. 884 



Published Monthly, by R. M. Barnes, Albion, N. Y., and Lacon, Illinois. 



THE BIRDS OF PREY 



This month we give up THE OOLOGIST largely to the Birds of Prey. This 

 very large family of birds includes the Vultures, Kites, Falcons, Hawks, Buz- 

 zards, Eagles, Hariers, Caracaras, Ospreys, and Owls. 



Within the territory covered by the American Ornithologist's Union's Check 

 list, there are three American Vultures, 4 Kites, six Hariers, 17 Buzzards (usually 

 called Hawks), four Eagles, 19 Falcon, two Caracaras, one Osprey and 44 Owls, 



These occupy the place just above the Doves and just below the Parrots in 

 the scale of Zoological classification. Included in this list are some of the most 

 splendid birds that cleave the sky, ranging from the Sparrow Hawk to the 

 ponderous California Vulture in size; and from the wee Elf Owl to the huge 

 Great Gray Owl of the far North. Among the most beautiful and best known 

 of these birds, are the Snowy Owl, the ever graceful Swallow-tailed Kite and the 

 splendid Bald Eagle. 



This large family of birds ranges over the whole of North America and are 

 among the most valued assistants of man found among the feathered tribe. Yet 

 against them has been waged for years a ceaseless, senseless warfare which 

 since the appearance of that well-known governmental publication, Fisher's 

 "Hawks & Owls of the United States" has been somewhat lessened. Yet it is 

 hard indeed to convince the agriculturalist that the Hawk and Owl that live 

 upon the rodent that is so fearfully injurious to his crops should not be mur- 

 dered on sight because perhaps a half dozen of this large family of birds occa- 

 sionally take a chicken; and because of the diurnal members of the tribe with 

 but few exceptions are by the uninitiated called "Chicken Hawks." 



The Hawks and Owls of Central United States have decreased at least 

 fifty per cent, in the last twenty-five years, and the ground squirrels, gophers 

 and similar pests upon which these birds live, have increased in the same, and 

 in some places a much greater, proportion. 



Will the farmer ever see the handwriting on the wall? 



