SNOWY OWL, BURROWING OWL AND OSPREY 
225 
pears to exist a modus vivendi, which is good so 
long as the bird does not come within reach of 
the legitimate owner of the soil. As already 
mentioned (page 77), when the two are inti- 
mately mixed, the prairie-" dog ” quickly kills 
the Burrowing Owl. It seems practically cer- 
tain that the bird inhabits only the mouth of 
the prairie-" dog’s ” burrow, or burrows that 
have been abandoned. 
This owl is far too small to kill even a half- 
grown "dog;” besides which, its favorite diet 
is grasshoppers, locusts, other insects, lizards 
and scorpions. It is to be noticed that in thirty- 
two stomachs examined in Washington, one 
really did contain a portion of a prairie-" dog,” 
and two contained one mouse each, but thirty- 
three contained insects only, some of them 
showing from forty-nine to sixty each of locusts 
and grasshoppers. 
The color of a Burrowing Owl is a grayish 
mixture, darkest on the back, and lighter below> 
and the legs are long and naked, like those of a 
sharp-shinned hawk. In captivity our specimens 
dug extensive burrows for themselves, in doing 
which they threw out gravel and earth with 
astonishing force. They are savage little wretch- 
es, and murder each other at a shocking rate. 
The males fight savagely, and the western spe- 
cies will not live peaceably with that of Florida. 
THE HAWKS AND EAGLES. 
Falconidae. 
This section of the Order Raptores contains 
a remarkable assemblage of forms, and the wide 
differences between some of the groups add 
zest to the study of them. Some are expert in 
fishing, some are of dignified and imposing bear- 
ing, some have beauty of plumage, and one is 
the most beautiful flyer in all the bird-world. 
Until only ten years ago, most people regarded 
all hawks as so many robbers, deserving death. 
In 1893, the investigations of the Department 
of Agriculture revealed the surprising fact that 
of all the forty-one species of day-flying birds 
of prey in North America, there were only four 
species whose destructiveness so far outweigh 
their useful services that they deserve to be de- 
stroyed. The others are either harmless to 
man’s interests, or else so positively beneficial 
that they deserve careful protection. Beyond 
doubt, the careful and thorough investigations 
made by the Biological Survey, under the di- 
rection of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, and the publi- 
cation of the results, have resulted in the cor- 
rection of popular errors which if persisted in 
would have caused enormous losses to the farm- 
ers of the United States. 
As an object lesson, take the case of Pennsyl- 
vania. 
In 1885, the legislature of that State enacted 
a law aimed at the wholesale destruction of 
hawks and owls, and authorizing the various 
counties to pay cash bounties for the “scalps” 
of those birds, at the rate of fifty cents each. 
Immediately the work of slaughter began. Many 
thousand scalps of hawks and owls were brought 
in, and over $90,000 were paid out for them. 
It has been estimated that the “saving” to the 
agricultural interests of the state amounted to 
$1 for every $1,205 paid out as bounties! In 
this manner the balance of Nature was quickly 
and completely destroyed. 
The awakening came even more swiftly than 
anyone expected. By the end of two years 
from the passage of the very injudicious “hawk 
law,” the farmers found their field-crops and 
orchards so completely overrun by destructive 
mice, rats and insects, they appealed to the 
legislature for the quick repeal of the law. This 
was brought about with all possible haste. It 
was estimated by competent judges that the 
“hawk law” cost the farmers and fruit-growers 
of Pennsylvania not less than $2,000,000 in 
actual losses on valuable crops. 
The moral of this episode is, — it is always 
dangerous, and often calamitous, to disturb violently 
the balance of Nature, either by the destruction of 
existing species of birds or mammals, or by the in- 
troduction of new ones. 
The American Osprey, or Fish-Hawk , 1 
is, by common consent, regarded as a sort of 
connecting link between the Owl and Falcon 
Families. It is a good bird to lead a large Fam- 
ily, and it is to be regretted that those who dwell 
far from the sea-coast and large rivers lack op- 
portunities for becoming well acquainted with 
it. Surely this bold fisher, who thinks nothing 
of dropping a hundred feet into ice-cold water, 
seizing a fish of nearly half his own weight, and 
1 Pan'di-on hal-i-ae-e'tus carolinensis. Average 
length, about 24 inches ; weight, 3 pounds. 
