OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN AND ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETIES. 
One Year 25 Cents Single Copy 5 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society at Appleton, Wisconsin 
Entered as second class matter, May 16, 1904, at Appleton, Wis., under the act of Congress of Mar, 3. ’79. 
VOL. X. MARCH, 1908. ~ No. 9 
The Value of Some Birds of Prey. 
The farmer sees a hawk strike a fowl 
which has wandered from the farm yard 
and he immediately condemns all birds 
of prev. It would be just as reasonable 
to condemn 
the whole hu¬ 
man race be¬ 
cause of the 
actionof high¬ 
waymen. Ev¬ 
en when the 
indus t r i o u s 
hawk is seen 
beating tire¬ 
lessly back 
and forth over 
harvest field 
and meadow 
busily hunt¬ 
ing the ro¬ 
dents which 
occasion loss¬ 
es both of 
grain and fruit 
trees the curs¬ 
es of the aver¬ 
age farmer go 
with them . , USED BY PERMISSION OF ATKINSON, MENTZER & GROVER 
Birds of prey are unceasingly hunted 
while that gigantic fraud—the house cat., 
—is givep food and shelter. The differ¬ 
ence between the two is,, briefly—only 
three or four birds of prey hunt birds, 
when they can procure rodents while the 
cat always prefers birds to mice. 
Hawks and owls may be divided into 
three classes. The first is composed of 
those species which never touch birds 
and poultry and which are therefore 
wholly beneficial. To this class belong 
not a few 
h a w k s a n d 
most of our 
common owls. 
r * " 
The second 
class are those 
which prefer 
rodents for 
food,, but 
which w i 11 c 
when hard 
pressed, prey 
upon birds 
and poultry. 
To this class 
belong the 
much dreaded 
>; .‘‘hen hawk” 
itself, and not 
more than 
seven per cent 
of its food con¬ 
sists of poul¬ 
try and, birds, 
-The red-shouldered hawk, sometimes, in- 
correctlv stvled the “hen hawk”;is a verv 
valuable bird to the farmer. Ninety per 
cent, of its food consists of injurious mam¬ 
mals and less than one and one-ha If per 
cent, of poultry and birds. 
Then there are a few hawks which are 
Chicago 
