HAWKS AND FIELD MICE. 45 



The prairie falcon inhabits the West and Southwest. Its habits 

 are somewhat similar to those of the duck hawk. It feeds largely 

 upon land birds, mammals, and insects. Game birds and tame 

 pigeons are known to be on its " bill of fare." 



The pigeon hawk is smaller than either of the two preceding spe- 

 cies, and is widely distributed in North and Middle America. It 

 nests chiefly north of the forty-third parallel, except in the higher 

 mountains. It feeds mainly upon small and medium-sized birds, a 

 few field mice, and insects (chiefly dragon flies and grasshoppers). 

 Fortunately for our summer song birds, the pigeon hawk for the 

 most part is migratory within the United States. However, it accom- 

 plishes some good by destroying English sparrows. 



The sparrow hawk is the commonest of our falcons. While it 

 destroys some small birds, its chief food is insects and mice. It is 

 too small to do much injury to poultry and game, and many of the 

 small birds it captures are the injurious European sparrow. Doctor 

 Fisher's report gives the results of examinations of 320 stomachs of 

 the sparrow hawk. Of these, 1 contained a quail ; 53, small birds ; 

 89, mice; 29, spiders; and 29 were empty. The insects were largely 

 grasshoppers, and about half of the mice were field mice. 



Two common hawks of the genus Aceipiter should be mentioned — 

 the Cooper hawk {Aceipiter eooperi) and the sharp-shinned hawk 

 (A. velox). Both destroy many birds and feed only to a small extent 

 upon injurious mammals and insects. The Cooper hawk destroys 

 much poultry and game, while the sharp-shinned hawk Jives chiefly 

 upon smaller birds, including quail and young chickens. Although 

 both species prey upon meadow mice, their limited usefulness in this 

 respect does not offset their injurious habits. The thieving traits of 

 these two birds has had much to do with the undeserved ill repute in 

 which hawks as a whole are held. 



All the other American hawks and eagles prey to some extent upon 

 field mice. The kites (four species) are highly insectivorous. The 

 Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) , known sometimes as the 

 blue hawk, is locally abundant as a summer resident in southern Kan- 

 sas, in Oklahoma, and parts of Texas. Its food is almost exclusively 

 grasshoppers, and it seldom molests birds, yet it is often wantonly 

 destroyed by sportsmen simply because it is a hawk and offers a 

 tempting mark. The same may be said of the other kites, including 

 the beautiful and useful swallow-tailed species. 



The chief economic function of hawks seems to be the destruction 

 of harmful rodents and insects. A majority of the species are decid- 

 edly useful, their good qualities far outweighing the bad. A few 

 have no harmful habits, but are wholly beneficial. A smaller num- 

 ber have good and bad traits nearly balanced, or certain species may 

 be beneficial in some localities but harmful in others. Two common 



