210 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



been eaten by two hundred and seventy-eight of the birds ; 

 while other small mammals — as the gray, red, and rock squir- 

 rels, the gray, striped, and pouched gophers, chipmunks of 

 various species, the musk, cotton, kangaroo, and common rats, 

 three kinds of rabbits, as well as shrews and skunks — were 

 found in one hundred and thirty-one stomachs. Frogs, toads, 

 lizards, and snakes had been eaten by thirty-seven of the 

 hawks ; insects, chiefly grasshoppers, by forty-seven ; craw- 

 fish by eight ; centipedes by one ; and offal by thirteen ; while 

 eighty-nine of the stomachs were empty. 



That this hawk on the whole does considerably more good 

 than harm there is no doubt, but the balance in its favor is 

 not so great that it is worth while to extend to it too much 

 protection in thickly settled communities. 



There are three species of hawks whose bill of fare consists 

 principally of birds and poultry. They are the sharp-shinned 

 hawk, Cooper's hawk, and the American goshawk. To these 

 three birds is largely due the obloquy which rests upon the 

 family as a whole. They are all trimly built birds, strong of 

 wing and foot, and inveterate enemies of other birds. Their 

 only redeeming features are that they occasionally capture a 

 rabbit, a mouse, or an English sparrow. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk is the smallest of the three, 

 measuring from ten to fourteen inches in length. It is com- 

 mon and widely distributed, breeding throughout the United 

 States and British Provinces, and migrating with the changing 

 seasons. It passes the winter as far north as the fortieth 

 parallel. More than any other hawk this species seems to 

 feed on birds. Dr. Fisher examined one hundred and seven 

 stomachs which contained food; in six of them were the 

 remains of poultry or game-birds and in ninety-nine of them 

 were the remains of other birds ; all but two had eaten birds 

 of some kind. Mice had been eaten by six of them and 

 insects by five. The variety of birds taken was surprising ; 

 besides the young or half-grown chickens there were evidences 



