Perret DUR ON BS Ue EEN 29 
Birds in Their Relation to the 
Farmer and Fruit Grower 
ice question whether any particular bird is more beneficial than 
harmful to the interests of the farmer or fruit grower, or the 
reverse, is a complicated one. Many species are both beneficial 
and injurious; but to decide whether the good or bad in this respect 
preponderates is often a matter requiring careful observation and study. 
Very few are entirely one or the other (though a limited number come 
near being so). Unfortunately some entirely distinct kinds of birds so 
closely resemble one another superficially that they appear identical to 
the careless or casual observer, and thus the innocent are made to suffer 
for the sins of the guilty. This is notably the case with the Hawks and 
Owls, of which only two species of the former and one of the latter are 
distinctly injurious and therefore deserving of destruction. .To most 
farmers, indeed, to people in general, all large Hawks are “chicken 
hawks,” and consequently are killed whenever practicable. Of these 
there are two kinds that are more or less abundant here, the Red-tailed 
Hawk, of which, however, only the birds more than a year old have red 
tails, the young having the tail grayish brown banded or barred with 
black, and the Red-shouldered Hawk, slightly smaller, but decidedly the 
more numerous of the two, likewise greatly different in the coloration of 
its adult and immature stages. These two large so called “chicken 
hawks” may easily be distinguished from one another by their very 
different cries, the large Red-tail uttering a sort of hissing squeal (sound- 
ing something like ‘“‘Sk-e-e-e-et”’), while the slightly smaller red-shoul- 
dered has a very much louder and not unmusical call (“‘ Kee’lair, kee’- 
lair, kee’-lair’’), a note often imitated by the Blue Jay. Both are often 
seen hung by the feet to fences along the country roadside, innocent 
victims, for in nine cases out of ten they did not commit the crime for 
which they were executed; the real culprit was an entirely different 
species of hawk, which will be specially referred to further on. While 
undoubtedly guilty now and then (though far less often than 1s generally 
supposed) of catching chickens and game, these big hawks feed mostly 
on meadow mice, young rabbits, snakes, bugs, crawfish, and various other 
creatures of that sort. I wish that I were able to give the percentage of 
“prohibited” food which they eat, as determined by examination of the 
stomach contents of hundreds of specimens, but I have not the figures 
for reference. My recollection, however, is that it amounts to far less 
than five per cent in the case of each species. 
The real terror after poultry yards is a bird known, for want of a better 
name, to ornithologists as Cooper’s Hawk. Some of you no doubt know 
