278 Union Bay 



I checked the economic status of the bird that night. Au- 

 thorities practically agreed in considering this hawk of much 

 value as a destroyer of small rodents and mammals, its prin- 

 cipal fare. But all of them reported that, while feeding its 

 nestlings, it is a frequent or regular predator on birds. The 

 artist and ornithologist, Allan Brooks, reported it as "the 

 most destructive bird in America to our marsh nesting water 

 fowl for at least three months of the year." The general opin- 

 ion appeared to be that its value as a predator on mammals 

 outweighs its damage as a temporary predator on wild fowl 

 and other game. This type of summary is accepted by few 

 laymen for the reason that the bird often performs its bene- 

 ficial acts in one territory and its harmful ones in another, 

 and for that reason is known to local residents as being en- 

 tirely good or entirely bad. Indeed, I am sure that the custom 

 among the general public always is to regard a bird or 

 mammal in this manner, the judgment being almost always 

 based on its conduct in the one district in which the observer 

 lives. Many hunters, on the other hand, consider all hawks 

 and owls harmful and seldom admit that any are beneficial. 



I think this attitude goes far back. When I was a very 

 small boy I read much about birds and beasts in fairy stories 

 and fables. I found that the animals were rated good or bad, 

 the bad ones being especially bad, and the good ones un- 

 believably good. The bad ones played despicable tricks upon 

 the good wild creatures. In these stories the fox was always 

 cunning and unscrupulous, the wolf hungry and mean, the 

 jackal low and treacherous. As for that archer, the sparrow 

 who confessed to killing Cock Robin, he was so entirely set 

 apart from the realm of good citizens in my juvenile mind 

 that I never passed a sparrow in a vacant lot without recall- 

 ing the miserable crime of its ancestor. 



Many of us change such opinions as we grow older, but I 

 am amazed at the extent that these prejudices still hold good. 

 Most wildlife still wears a tag which expresses the popular 



