HAWKS, AND THEIR USES. 
1890.] 
797 
ure, when they do not mean to prey upon them. 
I have seen a Cooper’s hawk pursue a raven, 
and evidently consider the chase a huge joke, 
and I have seen 
other hawks en¬ 
joying the same 
sort of fun. 
Fig. 10.— The 
Pigeon Hawk, so 
called from its size 
and bluish color, 
makes a fit com¬ 
rade of the other 
two. Though no 
less destructive to 
bird-life, since it 
is smaller it must 
necessarily prey 
upon smaller 
birds ; and the 
poultry-yards are 
usually free from 
its visits unless, 
indeed, a yard 
contains young FIG - JO - wgkon-hawk. 
chickens. It is a beautiful hawk, but its pres¬ 
ence in a neighborhood is a constant danger to 
everything it dares to attack. 
Fig. 11.— The Sparrow Hawk, our smallest 
hawk and the most abundant of its tribe, is cer¬ 
tainly a very valuable ally to the farmer. When 
it can obtain them, grasshoppers are its favorite 
food, and it rarely eats anything else. When 
these are not to be had, it captures mice and 
small birds, many more of the former than of the 
latter. The destruction of grasshoppers means 
little in the East, but in the far West, in the 
regions of the grasshopper plague, it means much; 
and the number of the winged pests destroyed 
by the sparrow hawk is not easily reckoned. 
Notwithstanding this fact, the State of Colo¬ 
rado passed a law, a few years ago, offering a 
bounty on hawks, owls, and various animals, 
and vast numbers of sparrow and other hawks 
were sacrificed and paid for by the State, because 
the hawks of other species were supposed to be 
guilty of stealing poultry. The sparrow hawk 
when captured young is readily tamed, and 
makes a gentle and interesting pet, perching 
upon the hand, readily recognizing its friends, 
and becoming quite friendly. 
The West contains another hawk, of large 
size, the Swainson’s Hawk, which also appears 
to live entirely upon grasshoppers in their season. 
It seems remarkable that birds of such power¬ 
ful build and provided with such talons should 
be fitted out so formidably for the destruction of 
a humble insect prey ! 
The time may come when some of the West¬ 
ern States will be glad to buy back the aid of 
these winged friends of the farmer at twice the 
price now paid for their destruction. 
For the sake of its curious food, I will call at¬ 
tention to the remarkable Everglade Kite of 
Florida. It feeds almost entirely upon a kind 
of large snail. The talons of this kite are long, 
and curved just enough to enable it to grasp the 
globular shell, while the long, abruptly hooked 
mandible is admirably fitted to extract the con¬ 
tents. Wonderfully sharp eyes these hawks 
must have, for I never was able to find one of 
these mollusks alive in the Everglade marshes, 
yet the hawks have 
no trouble to find all 
they want, judging 
from the number of 
empty shells. 
The Swallow¬ 
tailed Kite, perhaps 
the most graceful of 
all our hawks, is also 
a bird of sunny skies. 
It feeds very largely 
upon snakes, and 
when it has seized 
one it mounts high 
in air, and then, as it 
floats in graceful 
circles, it leisurely 
devours its prey. 
This hawk is very 
fond of wasps’ 
larvae, and it adroitly dives under the palmetto 
leaves and picks off the wasps’ nests. 
\ 
FIG. II. AMERICAN SPARROW-HAWK. 
