3 r 



Mr. i/IcAtee says the two of our best knoun havrksj the red- tailed hawk 

 and the red- shouldered hawk, often called "hen ha^-'ks" are valuable to farmers. 



I told riiy friend that, and he insisted that he had seen a hawk of that 

 very tribe carry off one of his chicks. Well, Ur. McAtee admits that both 

 those hawks sometimes eat poultry. But the inside information is that the 

 damage red- tailed and red- shouldered hawks do that way is small compared to 

 the good they do. 



The red- shouldered so-called "hen hawk" feeds on mice, birds, snakes, 

 fish, grasshop -jers, centipedes, spiders, crawfish, earthworms, and snails. 

 About 90 per cent of the misnamed "hen-hawk's" food is made up of injurious 

 animals and insects. Hardly 1 l/s per cent of its food is poultry and gaj.ie 

 birds. The handsome little sparrow hawk at times attacks small birds and 

 young chickens, but Mr. McAtee says that grasshoppers, and crickets, and other 

 insects form its chief articles of diet during warm wer.ther, and during the 

 rest of the year the sparrow hawk preys mostly on meadow mice and house mice. 



Wo could go on through the list of hawks and owls giving the more or 

 less valuable food habits of each of them. Mr. IlcAtee says that services of 

 the barn owl are typical of those of the hawks ojid owls in general. A barn 

 owl probably e.-^.ts about three small mammals at a meal and dines often. Those 

 in the East nave been found to feed mostly on f.ioadow mice, house mice, and 

 house rats. In California, they oat pocket gophers, field mice, pocket mice, 

 deer mice, harvest mice, kangaroo rats, and house mice. 



Owls have long been persecuted by man, but Mr. McAtee declares that 

 never has persecution been more unjust. He points out that the hawks and 

 owls are not the only sufferers. Wlien the hawks and owls are greatly reduced, 

 farmers find theuselves faced with a great increase in the niimber of destruc- 

 tive rodents. 



ANITOUIJCEIvIEI'TT ; You have just listened to a discussion of the value of hawks rjid 



owls. Station presents these results of interviews with Uncle Srun's 



Naturalists of the United States Department of Agriculture every two recks. 



