DOES IT PAY THE FARMER TO PROTECT BIRDS? 167 
Important as is the work of some of the hawks in destroying 
noxious insects, this is by no means the chief service the group ren¬ 
ders man. Within our boundaries are some 50 species of hawks and 
35 species of owls. With the exception of perhaps half a dozen 
hawks, which subsist mainly upon birds, and the great horned owl, 
hawks and owls are to be classed as beneficial. It is not to be denied 
that occasionally the larger species carry off a chicken and kill some 
game, but such acts are exceptions to the general rule. Mice and 
other small rodents constitute the chief food of such of the species 
as are not largely insectivorous, and it is by the destruction of these 
pests of the farmer that hawks and owls earn protection. 
Of late years the acreage under cultivation in the United States has 
increased rapidly and the value of the crops raised has augmented by 
leaps and bounds. With increased acreage under cultivation the 
number of rodents has multiplied correspondingly, because of the 
abundance of nutritious food and also because their natural foes have 
been destroyed by man. The services of hawks and owls were never 
so much needed as now, and these faithful helpers of man are likely 
to be needed still more in the future; yet thousands of hawks and owls 
are yearly slaughtered because the part they play in nature’s scheme is 
misunderstood or ignored. Unquestionably individual hawks that 
have learned the way to the poultry yard should be summarily dealt 
with, but because occasional individuals of two or three species destroy 
chickens it is manifestly unfair to take vengeance on the whole tribe. 
The very name “ hen hawk ” is a misnomer so far as the birds to 
which it is chiefly applied are concerned. Moreover, it is made the 
excuse by the farmer’s boy and the sportsman for killing every hawk, 
large and small, that flies. Thousands of these useful birds are killed 
annually by tho thoughtless for no better reason than that, when sit¬ 
ting motionless, they offer an easy target for the small-bore rifle, or, 
flying, present a tempting mark for the shotgun. So far has popular 
misapprehension in regard to these birds gone that again and again 
States and counties have offered bounties for their heads, thus deplet¬ 
ing treasuries, and inviting heavy losses to the farmer through the 
increased numbers of insects and rodents, which it is the function of 
these birds to hold in check. 
Woodpeckers.— The woodpeckers apparently were expressly de¬ 
signed for the protection of trees, both forest trees and fruit trees. 
Their chisel-like beaks driven by strong muscles make effective tools 
with which to dig out of wood the larva3 of burrowing insects, in 
which work the long extensible tongues greatly aid. The nature 
and full extent of the services of woodpeckers in the cause of forest 
growth and preservation are more clearly recognized as the subject 
is more carefully studied. 
