COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY 5 
Some idea of the money value of this 
group of birds to the country may be 
gained from the statement that the total 
value of the farm products in the United 
States in 1915 reached the amazing sum 
of $9,108,000,000. If we estimate that 
the total consumption of weed seed by 
the combined members of the sparrow 
family resulted in a saving of only I per 
cent of the crops—not a violent assump- 
tion—the sum saved to farmers by these 
birds in 1915 was $91,080,000. 
MOST HAWKS AND OWLS BENEFICIAL 
The current idea in relation to hawks 
and owls is erroneous. These birds are 
generally classed as thieves and robbers, 
whereas a large majority of them are the 
farmers’ friends and spend the greater 
part. of their long lives in pursuit of in- 
jurious insects and rodents. The hawks 
work by day, the owls chiefly by night; 
so that the useful activities of the two 
classes are continued practically through- 
out the 24 hours. 
As many as 100 grasshoppers have 
been found in the stomach of a Swain- 
son’s hawk, representing a single meal; 
and in the retreat of a pair of barn owls 
have been found more than 3,000 skulls, 
97 per cent of which were of mammals, 
the bulk consisting of field mice, house 
mice, and common rats. Nearly half a 
bushel of the remains of pocket gophers— 
animals which are very destructive in 
certain parts of the United States—was 
found near a nest of this species. The 
notable increase of noxious rodents dur- 
ing the last few years in certain parts of 
the United States and the consequent 
damage to crops are due in no small part 
to the diminished number of birds of 
prey, which formerly destroyed them and 
materially aided in keeping down their 
numbers. 
A few hawks are injurious, and the 
bulk of the depredations on birds and 
chickens chargeable against hawks is 
committed by three species—the Cooper’s 
bawk, the sharp-shinned hawk, and the 
goshawk. The farmer’s boy should learn 
to know these daring robbers by sight, so 
as to kill them whenever possible. 
From the foregoing it will at once ap- 
pear that the practice of offering bounties 
indiscriminately for the heads of hawks 
and owls, as has been done by some 
States, is a serious mistake, the result 
being not only a waste of public funds, 
but the destruction of valuable servants 
which can be replaced, if at all, only after 
the lapse of years. 
As a rule, birds do not live very long, 
but, as previously stated, they live fast. 
They breathe rapidly and have a higher 
temperature and a more rapid circulation 
than other vertebrates. This is a fortu- 
nate circumstance, since to generate the 
requisite force to sustain their active 
bodies a large quantity of food is neces- 
sary, and as a matter of fact birds have 
to devote most of their waking hours to 
obtaining insects, seeds, berries, and 
other kinds of food. 
The activity of birds in the pursuit of 
insects is still further stimulated by the 
fact that the young of most species, even 
those which are by no means strictly in- 
sectivorous, require great quantities of 
animal food in the early weeks of ex- 
istence, so that during the summer 
months—the flood time of insect life— 
birds are compelled to redouble their at- 
tacks on our insect foes to satisfy the 
wants of their clamorous young. 
Field observations of the food habits 
of birds serve a useful purpose, but they 
are rarely accurate enough to be fully re- 
liable. The presence of certain birds in 
a corn or wheat field or in an orchard is 
by no means proof, as is too often as- 
sumed, that they are devastating the grain 
or fruit. They may have been attracted 
by insects which, unknown to the farmer 
or orchardist, are fast ruining his crop. 
Hence it has been found necessary to ex- 
amine the stomachs and crops of birds to 
ascertain definitely what and how much 
they eat. 
ASTONISHING CAPACITY OF BIRDS’ STOM- 
ACHS REVEALED BY 50,000 TESTS 
The Biological Survey has in this way 
examined upward of 50,000 birds, most 
of which have been obtained during the 
last 25 years from scientific collectors, for 
our birds are too useful to be sacrificed 
when it can possibly be avoided, even for 
the sake of obtaining data upon which to 
base legislation for their protection. 
It is interesting to observe that hungry 
birds—and birds are hungry most of the 
