OS 



Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



The prevailing popular belief regarding the food of hawks and owls 

 is, that the}' subsist chiefly on insectivorous, song and game birds, and 

 on barn-yard fowl, and therefore should be considered and treated as 

 pests. On this hypothesis our count}- commissioners are acting, and 

 advertise to pa}' a per capita for hawks' scalps. 



Investigation into the habits of the birds of prey will not justify 

 this extreme measure; on the contrary it will show conclusively, I 

 think, that instead of being detrimental to agricultural pursuits, they 

 are positively beneficial, both to the farmer and to those interested in 

 the preservation of game and song birds. And my object in bringing 

 this matter before you is to show, from the evidence of those who have 

 made the habits of birds a life study, that even the despised hawks 

 have their duties to perform in the order of nature, and that in the 

 main their destructive propensities are in the interests of the farmer. 



Permit me to quote from vol. ix., page 47, " Pacific Survey," speaking 

 of the family Strigidce, the owls, this recognized authority states: "The 

 larger species subsist on small quadrupeds and birds, but much the 

 majority almost exclusively prey on insects." 



Dr. Coues, in his "Birds of the Northwest," page 365, in speaking of 

 one of the larger species of hawks, says : "They pick up their prey 

 as they pass by, dipping obliquely, and it requires no great agility to 

 elude their clutch. Most small birds evade capture, so that the hawks 

 chiefly confine themselves to less active quarry." 



Again, from the same author, page 366 : " Iu the stomachs of those 

 examined I found the remains of burrowing pouched rats, the western 

 wood-mouse, kangaroo mice, and some arvicolse, and would remark 

 in passing, how often small mammals, reptiles, and insects, which 

 might long remain undetected owing to their rarity or insignificance, 

 are found in the stomachs of rapacious birds." 



I might mention here that our only record of the Carolina-rice field 

 mouse in Ohio, rested for several years on a portion of a specimen 

 found in the stomach of a red-tailed hawk taken in this vicinity. 

 Skulls and teeth of this interesting mammal have since, however, been 

 found amongst the ashes in the Madisonville cemetery. 



In speaking of the habits of the beautiful and well known sparrow- 

 hawk, Dr. Coues says: " Subsisting on small insectivorous birds, it is 

 true, but also destroying countless field mice and noxious insects, he 

 is to be held a benefactor to the agriculturist." 



Again, the same author describing the habits ofSwainson's buzzard, 

 or hawk, says : "I scarcely think they are smart enough to catch 



