JUL 9 
jy^u 
T5T. 
V” 
M- x £ 27 , 
?■ 
r Pvo 
/ 
I r [> r> r r> y 
HAWKS, AND THEIR IISES. 
I. I'o TO EE / (i 0 
_ LO GY, 
By H. W. HenshaC/’ ' ' T ' ■ ' 1 | 
C£ Darn all hawks ! ” I once heard a farmer’s 
boy say; and this highly objectionable but pithy 
exclamation very tersely expresses the general 
estimation in which birds of prey are held, the 
whole country over. Too often the dislike of 
the farmer-boy takes a more deadly form than 
a foolish remark, and the ever-ready gun is 
called upon as a final means of righting all as¬ 
sumed injuries. 
In truth, the idea that every bird with beak 
and talons is a harmful creature, to be got rid 
of at first opportunity, is a widespread one, and 
so popular, withal, that legislators are ever ready 
to pass laws, not only permitting hawks and owls 
to be slaughtered at any and all seasons of the 
year, but putting a price upon their heads. In a 
period of eighteen months, the county treasuries 
in the State of Pennsylvania paid out $100,000 
as bounties for the slaying of animals supposed 
to be harmful, of which amount, probably not 
less than $65,000 was paid for hawks and 
owls! 
Nor need we seek far for the reasons of 
the feeling against birds of prey. The general 
dislike arises in large part from an utter igno¬ 
rance of their habits and the useful purpose 
which they serve, and more directly from a 
bad practice, indulged in by a few species, of 
preying upon the farmer’s poultry-yard, or of 
attacking game-birds. Let us then glance at 
the matter as impartially as we may, giving 
credit for usefulness where credit is due, placing 
guilt where it belongs, and then see to which 
side the balance falls. 
For present purposes, our hawks may be 
roughly divided into two classes, though the 
two grade together: large and small, or slow 
fliers and swift fliers; for most of the big hawks 
are slow of movement, Avhile all the small 
species are swift of wing. Singling out two of 
the largest species, which happen to be very 
numerous in the eastern United States, we find 
them to be the Red-tailed Hawk (Fig. 1, page 
794) and the Red-shouldered Hawk (Fig. 2). 
Though, at a distance, it may trouble you to 
tell one from the other, their larger size generally 
distinguishes them from other kinds, whether 
they be sitting motionless in a dead stub, or 
sailing in wide circles high in air. 
These especially are known as the “ hen 
hawks,” by the farmer, and they are considered 
to be fair game for all, to be shot, trapped, or 
poisoned whenever seen, for the good of the 
farm. As a matter of fact, are these hawks 
poultry-thieves, deserving their bad name ? 
The answer is, no. The food of the two species 
has been most carefully studied, numerous speci¬ 
mens of these two kinds being among the more 
than a thousand hawks and owls which have 
been examined by the Agricultural Department 
at Washington. It would teach a farmer some¬ 
thing to note how rarely in the food of the hun¬ 
dreds examined has any trace of poultry, or 
indeed of any bird, been found. 
Naturalists who have noted how frequently 
these hawks are found near the edges of small 
ponds and streams and about meadows, are not 
surprised to learn that, in the spring, frogs and 
snakes constitute the chief part of their fare, 
and that at other times the meadow-mouse 
(Anncola) is their usual food. Others, how¬ 
ever, who have never paid any special attention 
to their habits, will probably be surprised to 
hear this. 
Certainly no one will begrudge the hawks 
all the frogs they choose to catch; and while 
snakes are far from useless, they are not favorites 
with the people, and the thinning out of their 
number by these hawks will not be at all re¬ 
gretted. As for meadow-mice and such vermin, 
they are destructive, and though small, yet so 
rapidly do they increase, and so great are their 
numbers, that they do the crops very consider¬ 
able injury—injury which would be a thousand- 
79 1 
S 
