AMERICAN BIRDS OF PREY 



463 



Photograph by Howard H. Cleaves 



A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE MOMENT OF ITS STRIKE 



Note the phenomenal reach of leg of this bird of prey, a species widely distributed and 

 commonly known as the "Henhawk." The name does it an injustice, for it deserves to be 

 encouraged and protected as an enemy of rodents and destructive insects. 



sively on desert quail, jays, and other 

 birds of its inhospitable habitat. 



The Pigeon Hawk is really much like 

 a tiny peregrine. It can catch the fleet 

 and elusive sandpipers and plover along 

 shore and is usually encountered follow- 

 ing the migrating flocks in spring and 

 fall. This little falcon varies its diet 

 and improves its record by consuming 

 large numbers of crickets, grasshoppers 

 and beetles, but it is a willing and capable 

 ogre when song birds abound, and one 

 seldom comes to hand that has not plenty 

 of evidence against it in its crop. 



Among the owls, the Great Horned, or 

 "Cat Owl,'' does practically all the dam- 

 age for the family. Big, powerful, ag- 

 gressive, and fearless, he finds no diffi- 

 culty in helping himself to the farmer's 

 poultry whenever he feels like it, when 

 allowed to roost outside. A muskrat 

 trap, set baited or bare on a convenient 

 perch near the chicken yard, is a cruel 

 but practical way of determining who 

 has been thieving, though sometimes a 

 Barred Owl, ratting around the barns, 

 falls victim to this method. 



These, then, are the real culprits, if 

 placed on a profit-and-loss basis. The 



beneficial species outnumbers those on 

 the "black list." 



THE BENEFICIAL SPECIES (SEE COLOR 

 PLATE XV ) 



By far the most important group of 

 rodent-killing birds is the very group to 

 which we have mistakenly given the com- 

 mon name of "Henhawk" and "Chicken 

 Hawk,'' a most unfortunate error and 

 one most difficult to undo. 



It may be stated broadlv that the bisr. 

 conspicuous hawks we see sitting, eagle- 

 like, on tall snags above the green of the 

 woods, or in exposed positions from 

 which to view a large area, or sailing in 

 broad, majestic circles high in the sum- 

 mer sky, are not the ones we may blame 

 for our losses, but arc the ones we have 

 to thank for holding in check the vast 

 and all-but-overwhelming army of field- 

 mice and other destructive mammals 

 which keep agriculture near to the un- 

 profitable point. These pests are difficult 

 and very expensive to fight by artificial 

 means, and the soaring hawks are their 

 one great and efficient enemy. 



Next come all the owls except the 

 Great Horned, which, indeed, must have 



