274 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



periods, with no advantjige except to the few who make a busi- 

 ness of collecting bounties — one county in Pennsylvania having 

 paid out in a year over $5,000 in this manner, — they are usually 

 repealed; and now many states protect all but a few of these 

 birds. A very exhaustive study of the food of the Hawks and 

 Owls of the United States was made some years ago by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and the results given to the public in a 

 special bulletin by Dr. A. K. Fisher under the title, " The Hawks 

 and Owls of the United States in their Relation to Agriculture." 

 This valuable work is now out of print, but some of its more im- 

 portant features relative to our Hawks and Owls are here given, 

 together with a few personal investigations on this subject. 



Dr. C. H. Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey, in trans- 

 mitting this work to the Secretary of Agriculture, states that in 

 its preparation the contents of about 2,700 stomachs of these 

 birds were examined. 



" The result proves that a class of birds commonly looked 

 upon as enemies to the farmer, and indiscriminately destroyed 

 whenever occasion offers, really rank among his best friends, and 

 with few exceptions should be preserved, and encouraged to take 

 up their abode in the neighborhood of his home. Only six of the 

 seventy-three species and subspecies of hawks and owls of the 

 United States are injurious. Of these, three are so extremely 

 rare they need hardly be considered, and another (the Fish 

 Hawk) is only indirectly injurious, leaving but two (the Sharp- 

 shinned and Cooper's Hawks) that really need be taken into 

 account as enemies to agriculture. Omitting the six species that 

 feed largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, 

 of which 56 per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 

 27 per cent insects, and only 3j/$ per cent poultry or game birds. 

 In view of these facts the folly of offering bounties for the de- 

 struction of hawks. and owls, as has been done by several states, 

 becomes apparent, and the importance of an accurate knowledge 

 of the economic status of our common birds and mammals is 

 overwhelmingly demonstrated." 



Of our hawks there are only five that feed habitually on 

 birds; and, of these two, the Duck Hawk (Falco peregrinus 

 anatum) and Goshawk (Astur atricapillus atricapillus) are so 

 rare that they may be left out of consideration. 



