48 
NOTES ON THE FOOD OF BIRDS 
ago as Oct. 22, 1855. Dr. Fisher lias well described the feed¬ 
ing habits of this bird in the following language: 
“The sparrow hawk is almost exclusively insectivorous 
except when insect food is difficult to obtain. In localities 
where grashoppers and crickets are abundant these hawks 
congregate, often in moderate sized hocks, and gorge them¬ 
selves 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. ” 
The stomach of one shot by Mr. E. Atkins on the Rio de las 
Casas, N. M., contained the remains of a large beetle which 
was full of eggs. Another from the same locality contained 
grasshoppers and a large lepidopterous larva. 
It is evident that the sparrow hawk is one of the most 
useful of birds. 
Cooper’s Hawk 
While most of the hawks are decidedly beneficial, this 
species (Accipiter cooperi) has to be condemned on account of 
its habit of preying on small birds and poultry. 
Mr. F. J. Birtwell informs me that in May, 1900, he was 
on the Pecos Reservation, and “a pair of these birds nested 
near my cabin. The amount of small birds they captured 
was very large. I hardly saw a day but what one or another 
of the pair was seen with a small bird, sometimes a robin.” 
Dr. Fisher says, “Cooper's hawk is very destructive to 
domesticated pigeons, and, when it finds a cote which is easy 
of approach, is very troublesome.” 
Road Runner 
“Its food consists almost entirely of animal matter, such 
as grasshoppers,, beetles, lizards, small snakes, land snails, 
the smaller rodents, and not unfrequently of young birds. 
On the whole these birds do far more good than harm. When 
