II \\\ K> \ \l» III I h M [01 . 
The ( » i - .- 1 1 lit- falcon inhabits the West and Southwest h ha 
are somewhat similar to those of the duck hawk. Ii I 
upon [and birds, mammals, and insects. Ghune I »i i « I and tame 
pigeons arc known to he on its " bill of fare," 
Tin' pigeon hawk is smaller than either of the two preceding 
cies, and is wideh distributed in North and Middle America, Ii 
nests chieflv north of the forty-third parallel, except in the higher 
mountains. It feeds mainly upon small and medium-sized birds, a 
few field mice, and insects (chiefly dragon flies and grasshoppers). 
Fort una teh for our summer song birds, the pigeon hawk for the 
most part is migrator} within the United State-. However, it accom- 
plishes some good by destroying English sparrows. 
The sparrow hawk is the commonest of our falcon-. While it 
destroys some small birds, it- chief food is insects and mice. It is 
too small to do much injury to poultry and game, and many of the 
small birds it captures are the injurious European sparrow. Doctor 
Fisher's report gives the results of examination- of 320*stomachs of 
the sparrow hawk. Of these, 1 contained a quail; 53, small birds; 
B9, mice: 29, spiders; and 29 were empty. The insects were largely 
grasshoppers, and about half of the mice were held mice. 
Two common hawks of the genus Accipiter should be mentioned — 
the Cooper hawk (Accipiter cooperi) and the sharp-shinned hawk 
(A, Vi lox). Both destroy many birds and feed only to a small extent 
upon injurious mammals and insects. The Cooper hawk destroys 
much poultry and game, while the sharp-shinned hawk lives chiefly 
upon -mailer birds, including quail and young chickens. Although 
both species prey upon meadow mice, their limited usefulness in this 
respect doe- not offset their injurious habits. The thieving trait- of 
these two birds has had much to do with the undeserved ill repute in 
which hawk- a- a whole are held. 
All the other American hawks and eagles prey to some extent upon 
field mice. The kites (four species) are highly insectivorous. The 
Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) , known sometimes as the 
blue hawk, i- locally abundant as a summer resident in southern Kan- 
-n-. in Oklahoma, and part- of Texas. It- food i- almost exclusively 
grasshoppers, and it seldom molests birds, yet it is often wantonly 
destroyed by sportsmen simply because it is a hawk and offer- a 
tempting mark. The same may be said of the other kites, including 
the beautiful and useful -wallow -tailed species. 
The chief economic function of hawk- seems to be the destruction 
of harmful rodents and insects. A majority of the species are decid- 
edly useful, their good qualities far outweighing the had. A few 
have no harmful habits, but are wholly beneficial. A -mailer num- 
ber have good and had traits nearly balanced, or certain species may 
be beneficial in some localities hut harmful in others. Two common 
