HAWKS AND OWLS. 
•3 
HAWKS AND OWLS. 
The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their relation to Agriculture. 
Prepared under the direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, ornithologist. By A. K. 
Fisher, M.D., assistant ornithologist. (Washington : Government Printing 
Office, 1893.) 210 pp. 8vo. , with twenty-six coloured plates. 
This is a bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and, while giving a 
concise description of the plumage, range and habits of the birds of prey found in 
the United States, is principally devoted to a consideration of the food of each 
species, and their direct and indirect bearing upon agriculture. The statements 
upon this point are based upon the examination, by scientific experts, of the 
contents of the stomachs of 2,700 of these birds, and it will be gratifying to the 
members of the Selborne Society to know that the result proves that hawks and 
owls, commonly looked upon as enemies to the farmer, “really rank among his 
best friends, and, with few exceptions, should be preserved.” Only six out of 
seventy-three species and sub-species found in the United States are said to be 
injurious. Omitting these six, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which 56 per 
cent, contained mice and other small mammals, 27 per cent, contained insects, 
and only 35 per cent, poultry or game birds; These figures speak for themselves. 
The book has a greater interest for English readers than might be supposed at 
first sight, since many North American hawks and owls do not merely belong to 
the same genera as some of ours, but may be said to be representative forms of 
them. Thus in division {b), “ those chiefly beneficial,” we find six species of 
Buteo, closely allied toj our common buzzard, a barn owl {Strix pratincola) 
wonderfully like ours, a kestrel * (Falco sparverius), a long-eared owl (Asio 
wilsonianus), and our own short-eared owl (Asio accipitrinus). Of the American 
kestrel (the so-called “sparrow-hawk”) it is said that “although at times . . 
it attacks small birds and young poultry, these irregularities are so infrequent, 
compared with its constant good service in destroying insects and mice, that they 
are hardly to be considered.” Grasshoppers and crickets are said to constitute its 
principal food during the warmer months, while mice predominate during the rest 
of the year. It is not surprising to find that the barn owl’s food is stated to be 
“almost entirely made up of injurious mammals,” and that it is questioned 
whether it should not be placed among those species which are wholly beneficial. 
A merlin figures among those whose beneficial and noxious qualities balance one 
another, while among those few which are stated to be harmful we find the duck 
hawk (Falco peregritius anatum), the representative of our peregrine falcon, and 
the sharp-skinned hawk (Accipiter velox), which appears to bear a bad character 
similar to that of its British relation the sparrow-hawk (Accipiter nisus), but we 
learn that in one direction it promises to be of great benefit to the country, viz. 
in destroying the English sparrow ! 
The work can be cordially recommended to the readers of Nature Notes, 
not only as a handy guide to the North American birds of prey (the really excel- 
lent plates of twenty-six species adding greatly to its usefulness in this way), but 
also on account of the mass of information therein bearing upon the much-vexed 
questions of the good and harm done by birds to the farmer. 
O. V. Aplin. 
[A word may be said in reference to the useful work which the United States 
Department of Agriculture is performing in the issue of reports such as the one 
above mentioned. They are valuable contributions to scientific literature, and 
afford an admirable example of what might be done elsewhere. Our colonial 
official publications, which are in great measure analogous to these, contrast by 
no means favourably, either in manner or matter, with the reports issued in 
Washington. A more recent one deals with the “ Death Valley Expedition,” 
and includes a survey of the zoology and part of the botany of parts of California, 
Nevada, Arizona and Utah. The liberality with which these reports are distri- 
buted is another feature well worthy of imitation. — E d. N. W.j 
* This bird is commonly known in America as the “ sparrow-hawk,” a most 
misleading and confusing name for English readers, who are in consequence apt 
to confuse it with their own sparrow-hawk (Accipiter nisus), a bird of very 
different habits. 
