Birps oF PREY. 171 
remain with us persecution will go on, and farmers 
otherwise intelligent will take pride in ornamenting 
their barns with hawks, owls, and crows indiscrimi- 
nately slaughtered. The truth may be mighty, but 
it does not always prevail. Here, in the case of 
this bird, we have a mouse- and grasshopper-hawk 
that does not eat one chicken in a year, and yet it is 
not safe unless out of gunshot. 
Dr. Wheaton says that this hawk visits the barn- 
yard (that is, takes a chicken now and then), but Iam 
very strongly inclined to doubt it. Possibly there was 
some other attraction. Dr. Warren defends it, and 
I know it is a capital mouser, and what more in its 
favor need be said ? 
It is acommon impression that ‘“ Feather-boots” 
and the Black-hawk are quite different birds, and 
there does appear to be a difference besides the 
one of color, and that is the true Black-hawk is a 
more wary bird, acting as if it knew that in the eyes 
of a taxidermist, if no other, its skin had a special 
value. These two forms of the one species come to 
the Middle States quite often as early as November 1, 
and from that time on you can generally find them 
perched upon hay-stacks, or taking up a position on 
some lone tree from which there is an unobstructed 
view of the fields below, and if not disturbed the 
same bird will stay all winter, provided the supply 
of mice does not run short. 
They are essentially a harmless bird, and seem to 
have impressed their real standing in the world upon 
the minds of many people; and certainly they are an 
ornamental feature of the winter landscape. Stand- 
