Red-shouldered Hawk 
215 
no one cares to make a close study of their 
young. 
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 
Called also: Hen Hawk; Chicken Hawk; Win- 
ter Hawk 
Let any one say “ Hawk” to the average far- 
mer and he looks for his gun. For many years 
it was supposed that every member of the hawk 
family was a villain and fair game, but the 
white searchlight of science shows us that 
most of the tribe are the farmers’ allies, which, 
with the owls, share the task of keeping in check 
the mice, moles, gophers, snakes, and the larger 
insect pests. Nature keeps her vast domain 
patrolled by these vigilant watchers by day 
and by night. Guns may well be turned on 
those blood-thirsty fiends in feathers, Cooper’s 
hawk, the sharp-shinned hawk, and the goshawk, 
that not only eat our poultry, but every song 
bird they can catch : the law of the survival of 
the fittest might well be enforced with lead in 
their case. But do let us protect our friends, 
the more heavily built and slow-flying hawks 
with the red tails and red shoulders, among 
other allies in our ceaseless war against farm 
vermin ! 
In the court of last appeal to which all our 
