Order Xll. VULTURES, HAWKS, AND OWLS. 



RAPTORES. 



Family 1. AMERICAN VULTURES. Cathartid^. 3 species. 



Family 2. FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, etc. Falconid^, 33 

 species, 13 subspecies. 



Family 3. BARN OWLS. Strigid^. 1 species. 



Family 4. HORNED OWLS. Bubonid^. 19 species, 20 snh- 

 species. 



In the Raptorcs wc have a group o£ birds of great value to man but 

 whose services for the most part, are so little appreciated that, far from 

 protecting these birds, we have actually persecuted them. 



The Vultures, it is true, are given credit for their good work as 

 scavengers and they are protected both by law and by public sentiment. 

 Every one knows that a living Vulture is infinitely more useful than a 

 dead one. As a result throughout countries inhabited by these birds 

 they are usually both abundant and tame, entering the cities to feed 

 in the streets with an assurance born of years of immunity from harm. 



But how differently their kin of the family Falconidse act in their 

 relations to man! 'Wild as a Hawk' has become an adage. These 

 birds are universally condemned. To kill one is a commendable act. 

 Every ones hand is raised against them. In some localities a price 

 has actually been set upon their heads. 



A fondness for chickens, it is alleged, is the chief crime of Hawks, 

 and in popular parlance all Hawks are 'Chicken Hawks' and as such 

 are to be killed on sight. 



Naturalists have long been aware that only one of our common 

 Hawks habitually preys upon poultry while most of our species, by 

 feeding largely on meadow mice, are actually beneficial. It was not, 

 however, until this matter received the attention of the Biological 

 Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, that the 

 economic status of Hawks, as well as of Owls, was placed on a sound 

 scientific basis. In Dr. A. K. Fisher's report on the food of Hawks 

 and Owls, issued by the Biologic Survey in 1893, the results of 

 the examination of the contents of several thousands stomachs of these 

 birds is tabulated. It is stated, for example, that only three out of 

 two hundred and twenty stomachs of the so-called 'Chicken' or Red- 



127 



