THE COLLECTORS* MONTHLY. 



farmer himself are asleep. Bubo vir- 

 ginianus does occasionally treat him- 

 self to a " Hen " or a " Chicken, " in 

 fact, of the stomachs examined, decid- 

 edly a large proportion, discover the 

 remains of the domestic fowl. Is it 

 not true however, that those individ- 

 uals which have attracted attention by 

 their disturbance of the hennery, are 

 the ones which fall into the hands of 

 anatomists? It is well known that the 

 smaller owls such as the Screech Owl 

 and the Acadian Owl, live almost en- 

 tirely on insects, their remaining diet 

 being mainly mice. The Short-eared 

 or Meadow Owl is almost exclusively 

 a mouser, and of the Long-eared Owl 

 Dr. Warren in his Birds of Pennsyl- 

 vania, says : — " I have examined the 

 stomachs of twenty-three Long-eared 

 Owls, and found that twenty-two of 

 them had fed only on mice," the oth- 

 ers showed " some beetles and portions 

 of a small bird." The Barn Owl is 

 notably a mouser, while the Barred 

 Owl, which is quite promiscious in its 

 bill of fare, will occasionally attack 

 the poultry. 



Thus we see that the owls are, with 

 little exception, the friends and allies 

 of the farmer. 



The record of the Hawks is about 

 equally favorable. To begin with the 

 Sparrow Hawk, it is not only espec- 

 ially an isectiverous species, but a des- 

 troyer of those insects which are most 

 noxious — example, the various species 

 of grass-hoppers. The Marsh Hawk, 

 like the Meadow Owl, is notably a 

 mouser. Notwithstanding the bad 



reputation of the Red-tail, dissection 

 shows that he is mainly a destroyer of 

 mice and insects ; birds and domestic 

 fowl being the smaller proportion of 

 his bill of fare. The Red-shouldred 

 Hawk would seem to be one of the 

 most harmless of the large species, its 

 fare consisting mainly of mice and in- 

 sects, to some extent of frogs and 

 snakes, small birds being taken but 

 occasionally. These birds reside in 

 the forests in the immediate vicinity 

 of my house throughout the year, and 

 never disturb the hens though they 

 roam about the woods for some dis- 

 tance. Cooper's Hawk and the Sharp- 

 shin are the only species to be serious- 

 ly dreaded, and yet it is surprising 

 how little mischief the latter does, 

 compared with his reputation. A 

 pair reside in my immediate vicinity, 

 nesting regularly, and in a: few instan- 

 ces have frightened the hens,, but I do 

 not think they have ever taken any. 



While one should depreciate indis- 

 criminate destruction of birds of prey, 

 there is no 'doubt an exception to be 

 made. A hawk will sometimes get in 

 the way of visiting a poultry yard in 

 an especially destructive manner. 

 Such an individual should be shot, 

 but there let destruction end. Never 

 forget, that as a rule, the birds of prey 

 are the best and the indispensable 

 friends of the farmer. 



A pet crane acts as a watch -dog for 

 a man in Tennile, Ga. 



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