more active in working for man's interest? than it is in work- 

 ing against them ; for the facts prove that only a small part of 

 its diet is obtained in the poultry yard. It is hated intensely 

 without just cause. 



The farmer cheerfully pays the hired man in the fall for 

 his work on the farm, mistakes included, and re-engages him 

 again for the next season, often at a higher wage. Is it fair 

 for that same farmer to begrudge a taste of chicken to an Owl, 

 now and then, and lay it low with a shot-gun after it has 

 worked for him faithfully for three hundred and sixty-five 

 days and saved him many dollars by keeping, down the mice, 

 rats, squirrels and rabbits that always prey upon his products ? 



Hear what the Biological Survey of < the Department of 

 Agriculture of the United States says of this bird. "If the 

 more thickly settled districts where poultry i^s extensively raised 

 could be passed by and the bird considered only as it appears in 

 the great West, it would earn a secure place among the bene- 

 ficial species, for it is an important ally of the ranchman in 

 fighting the hordes of ground squirrels, gophers, prairie dogs, 

 rabbits and other rodents which infest his fields and ranges. 

 Where mammals are plenty it does not seem to attack poultry 

 or game birds to any considerable extent, but in regions where 

 rabbits and squirrels are scarce it frequently makes inroads on 

 fowls, especially where they roost in trees. Undoubtedly 

 rabbits are its favorite food, though in som.e places the common 

 rat is killed in great numbers. We have a record of the 

 remains of over one hundred rats that were found under one 

 nest." If so much can be said in favor of the worst member 

 of the Owl family, should not the others have a good standing 

 with the agriculturist? 



41 



