84 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 



Sandusky, Ohio, before the season opened, to make some 

 photographs of wild ducks. He had placed a number of 

 wooden decoys before his blind when a hawk struck one 

 of them and carried it some distance from the water. Mr. 

 Shiras had two cameras and secured a picture of the 

 hawk as it struck. He tried for another picture as the 

 bird soared aloft carrying the d^coy, with its weight 

 hanging down, but his aim was bad, and the hawk did 

 not appear on the plate. 



When I examined the decoy I observed that the hawk's 

 talons had been sunk deeply into the wood. 



The hawks can be controlled by shooting them from 

 ambush, and many can be killed by steel traps placed on 

 poles. On some preserves very small poles are used, and . 

 these are stood in pieces of drain tile inserted in the 

 ground. The pole when so arranged easily can be taken 

 down to set the trap. One preserver informed me that he 

 stood his poles up against the fences. 



On one occasion, on a Western marsh, a hawk was ob- 

 served to follow a flock of teal and strike down three of 

 them in succession. He was hunting wantonly and flew 

 away without stopping to eat one of the ducks. 



When ducks are breeding wild in the marshes they are 

 comparatively secure from many dangerous hawks which 

 are not often seen in such places, but when the ducks are 

 reared on farms the hawks which are injurious to poul- 

 try must be controlled. The worst hawks undoubtedly 

 are the Goshawk, Cooper's hawk and Sharp Shinned 

 hawk, but the hawks which are regarded as more bene- 

 ficial than harmful should be observed, and when they 

 gather in large numbers or when a single hawk persists 

 in taking many young ducks it should be destroyed, of 



