5 
•observers over such a vast area the system of pellet examination 
could not be applied in the case of the Owls with satisfactory 
results, but stomach examination only confirms the results obtained 
in other countries. No fewer than 2,700 stomachs of 73 species 
and subspecies of Hawks and Owls were examined, and out of these 
only six proved to be injurious. Even of these six species three 
are so rare as to be scarcely worth consideration, and one is only 
indirectly harmful, so that the result of the investigation proved 
hhat only two species need be taken into account as enemies to 
agriculture. Leaving out of consideration the six species already 
referred to, it was conclusively shown that only 3J per cent, of the 
total food examined consisted of poultry or game birds. While 
on the other hand, no less than 83 per cent, consisted of mice and 
other small mammals or insects. The folly of offering bounties 
for the destruction of Hawks and Owls was thus overwhelmingly 
demonstrated. A. later bulletin by Messrs. Barrows and Schwarz # 
-dealt in a similar way with the American Crow, and also resulted 
in a verdict favourable to the accused. It was proved that only 3 
per cent, of the total food of the Crow consisted of sprouting corn 
or corn in the milk, and that the good so far outweighed the bad 
that the Crow was the friend rather than the enemy of the farmer. 
'The “ Food of the Grackles, Bobolink and Blackbirds ” was the 
subject of another memoir by Mr. E. E. L. Beal, in 1900, and here 
again, although in the case of one or two species the verdict is 
adverse to the birds, the results are generally favourable. Even 
in the case of those birds which are regarded as injurious, the 
result is generally ascribed to causes which have caused an undue 
increase in the numbers of the species, and judicious reduction 
rather than total extirpation is recommended. 
In criticising the methods by which these results have been 
obtained, a very serious objection is the loss of life caused in 
investigating the status of a bird which, perhaps, proves in the end 
to be most valuable to the farmer. As an example, it may be stated 
that 107 Long-eared Owls were killed in the United States in the 
process of “ clearing the character ” of the species. In this particular 
case, no doubt the same result might have been attained in time 
by pellet examination, but on the whole I am disposed to think 
that it is better that a limited number of birds should be killed 
and carefully examined in those cases where reasonable doubt still 
exists. If found not guilty, the bird should then be stringently 
protected. Almost anything is better than the present senseless 
slaughter by ignorant servants and keepers. Year after year, the 
# “The Common Crow of the U. S.,” by W. B. Burrows and E. A. Schwarz 
<(1895). See also “The English Sparrow,” by W. B. Burrows (1889), and 
“ Some Common Birds in their relation to Agriculture,” by F. E. L. Beal (1897). 
