REV. LEANDER S. KEYSER. 43 



make a target for the gunner. His only business was 

 supposed to be to make excursions to the farmyard in search 

 of billsome messes of domestic fowl. But this timely vol- 

 ume shows that not all Hawks are hawkish — at least, they 

 do not all feed to any large extent on birds and poultry. 

 It is true, the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper's Hawk 

 {Accipiter velox and A. cooperi) have a sweet tooth — or, 

 rather, beak — for chicken and small birds of various species ; 

 but in the dissection of six stomachs of Harris' Hawk {Fara- 

 iuteo unicinctus harrisi) not one fowl of any kind was found, 

 but only parts of small mammals. The Red-tailed Hawk 

 {Buteo borealis) is an exceedingly brisk, strong-winged bird ; 

 yet a carefully compiled table showing the contents of 562 

 stomachs demonstrates that these birds destroy a hundred 

 times as many mice, moles and other harmful small mammals 

 as birds and poultry. 



The Red-shouldered Hawk {Buteo lineatus) makes himself 

 still less obnoxious and still more useful, living chiefly 

 on snakes, beetles, spiders, lizards and grasshoppers, as 

 well as mice, shrews and moles. Swainson's Hawk {Buteo 

 swainsoni) seems to avoid the farmyard entirely, finding 

 locusts, grasshoppers, beetles, lizards, gophers and sper- 

 mophiles more to his taste than domestic fowl. The same 

 may be said of the Broad- winged. Rough-legged and Fer- 

 ruginous Hawks. As to the Owls, it is simply astonishing 

 what secrets are revealed by an examination of craws, 

 showing that they are much more reputable birds than most 

 people suppose. While some of them occasionally visit 

 Farmer Gruffman's henroost, all of them find their diet 

 chiefly in the fields and woods, where mice, chipmunks and 

 snakes abound. We think every farmer and sportsman 

 ought to study this useful volume, and learn to identify the 

 various species of Hawks and Owls before he begins the war 

 of extermination, so that he will not unwittingly massacre his 

 friends instead of his foes. 



The destruction of beautiful and innocent birds for fashion- 



