190 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



In this way, forty-eight species (with their sub-species) of hawks 

 and owls have been considered in their relation to agriculture. The 

 food and habits of each species is given in detail, arid, for conve- 

 nience, the whole have been classified and placed in four different 

 groups, as follows : 



(a) Those wholly beneficial or wholly harmless ... 6 



(b) Those chiefly beneficial ....... 29 



(c) Those in which the beneficial and harmful qualities seem 



to balance each other ....... 7 



(d) Those positively harmful ...... 6 



For our present purpose it will not be necessary to go over the 



above list in detail, as many of the species eniimerated are not found 

 in Ontario; but we have all the bad ones and a good many of the 

 others, and I shall now give these in detail. The total number is 

 twenty-eight. 



(a) Those wholly beneficial or wholly harmless. In this class 

 we have only the Rough-legged Buzzard and the Swal- 

 low-tailed Kite ........ 2 



(6) Those rhiefly beneficial, that is, those which take game 

 and poultry occasionallj', but kill enough field mice 

 and other vermin to more than pay for it, leaving a 

 small balance in their_ favor. In this class we have 

 the Marsh Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Spar- 

 row Hawk, Barn Owl, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared 

 Owl, Great Gray Owl, Barred Owl, Richardson's Owl, 

 Saw-whet Owl, Screech Owl, Snowy Owl, Hawk Owl . 16 

 (r) Of those whose good and bad deeds balance each other, 

 we have the Great-horned Owl, Golden Eagle, Bald 

 Eagle, Pigeon Hawk ....... 4- 



{d) Of those which are positively injurious, we have the Gvr- 



falcon, Goshawk, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, 



Peregrine Falcon, Fish Hawk . . 6 



It is very gratifying to find the report so favorable to our Birds 



of Prey, and even of Class d a few wordg in favor might be said. 



Of course. Dr. Fisher, in the position of judge interpreting the law, 



could not but condemn where the evidence was so conclusive: but 



from our standpoint in Ontario, we cannot complain verj- much, for 



the two largest and most destructive, the Gyrfalcon and Goshawk, 



are peculiar to the far north, the former, especially, rarely coming 



within our boundary; and even the Peregrine, though ranked as an 



