in doubt, regaRling the identity of a small Hawk, give the benetit of the doubt to 

 the Hawk and refrain from killing it, for you may thus spare a valuable bird 

 belonging to a species that during every twelve months renders service to the 

 agricultural industry of the country that is far beyond computation, but if meas- 

 ured in dollars and cents would reach to very high figures. This appeal for pro- 

 tection of the Sparrow Hawks, and the statements as to their value, would of 

 course be worthless if they could not be supported by facts. 



In the exhaustive report on this species made in 1893 by Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, will be found indisputable state- 

 ments that prove the absolute value of this Hawk as a grasshopper — and rodent 

 — destroyer, and, on the other hand, will show how little harm it does. 



Three hundred and twenty stomachs were examined, which had been col- 

 lected in w^idely separated parts of the country, and in all seasons of the year, 

 by government experts. In only one stomach was found remains of a game-bird 

 (it also contained 29 insects). This fact shows that the sportsmen have no 

 excuse for killing a Sparrow Hawk, as it certainly does not molest game-birds. 

 Fifty-three stomachs contained remains of other birds, the species being such as 

 lived on or very near the ground. In almost every instance the stomachs of 

 these 53 Hawks contained, in addition, insects or rodents of some kind. Eighty- 

 nine birds had been eating mice of some species, while 24 Hawks had been 

 eating other mammals, reptiles or batrachians. Two hundred and fifteen birds 

 had been eating insects of various kinds, largely grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, 

 caterpillars, etc. A stomach of a Hawk collected at Lockport, New York, in 

 August, contained 30 crickets ; another, collected in Dakota County, Nebraska, in 

 July, contained a gopher and 38 insects ; another, from Cedar County, Nebraska, 

 in August, contained 35 grasshoppers, 24 crickets, 1 dragon-fly and 2 spiders; a 

 West Virginia bird had eaten 25 grasshoppers, 5 crickets and 2 larvae; while 

 another, in February, had eaten a cotton rat. 



Dr. Fisher summarizes as follows: "The subject of the food of this Hawk 

 is one of great interest, and, considered in its economic bearings, is one that 

 should be carefully studied. The Sparrow^ Hawk is almost exclusively insecti- 

 vorous, except when insect food is difficult to obtain. In localities where grass- 

 hoppers and crickets are abundant these Hawks congregate often in moderate- 

 sized flocks, and gorge themselves continuously. Rarely do they touch any other 

 form of food until either by the advancing season or other natural causes the 

 grasshopper crop is so lessened that their hunger cannot be appeased without 

 undue exertion. Then other kinds of insects and other forms of life contribute 

 to their fare; and beetles, spiders, mice, shrews, small snakes, lizards, or even 

 birds may be required to bring up the balance. 



"In some places in the West and South telegraph poles pass for miles through 

 treeless plains and savannas. For lack of better perches, the Sparrow Hawks 

 often use these poles for resting places, from w^hich they make short trips to pick 

 up a grasshopper or mouse, which they carry back to their perch. At times, when 



614 



