256 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 
“Mr. W. B. Hall, of Wakeman, Ohio, writes: * * * “The Spar- 
row Hawk is a most persistent enemy of the grasshopper tribe. 
While the so-called hawk law was in force in Ohio I was township 
clerk in my native village and issued certificates to the number of 
eighty-six, forty-six being for the Sparrow Hawk. I examined the 
stomachs and found forty-five of them to contain the remains of 
grasshoppers and the elytra of beetles, while the remaining one con- 
tained the fur and bones of a meadow mouse.’ ” 
“Mr. W. KE. Saunders writes from London, Canada: ‘Sparrow 
Hawks are one of our best grasshopper destroyers; four out of every 
five I have killed contained grasshoppers alone.’ The following from 
the pen of Mr. H. W. Henshaw substantiates what we have said in 
regard to its fondness for grasshoppers: ‘It finds * * * an 
abundant supply of game in the shape of small insectivorous birds, 
but more especially does its food consist of the various kinds of 
coleopterous insects and grasshoppers, of which it destroys multi- 
tudes. In fact, this Jast item is the most important of all, and where 
these insects are abundant I have never seen them have recourse 
to any other kind of food’ (Explor. West of 100th Merid,, Wheeler, 
Vol. V, 1875, p. 414).” 
“And subsequently the same author writes: ‘The west side of Che- 
waucan Valley has suffered severely from a visitation of that scourge 
of the western farmer, the grasshoppers. Here in August Sparrow 
Hawks had assembled in hundreds and were holding high carnival, 
and although in instances like the present their numbers proved 
wholly insufficient to cope against the vast myriads of these de- 
structive insects, yet the work of the Sparrow Hawk is by no means 
so insignificant that it should not be remembered to his credit and 
carn him well merited protection. His food consists almost entirely 
of grasshoppers, when they are to be had, and as his appetite ap- 
pears never to become satiated, the aggregate in numbers which are 
annually destroyed by him must be enormous.” (Appendix O O of 
Annual Report of Chief of Eng., U.S. A. for ’79, p. 314).” 
“In the vicinity of Washington, D. C., remarkable as it may ap- 
pear to those who have not interested themselves specially in the 
matter, it is the exception not to find grasshoppers or crickets in the 
stomachs of Sparrow Hawks, even when killed during the months 
of January and February, unless the ground is covered with snow.” 
It is wonderful how the birds can discover the half-concealed, 
semi-dormant insects, which in color so closely resemble the ground 
or dry grass. Whether they are attracted by a slight movement or 
distinguish the form of their prey as it sits motionless, is difficult to 
prove, but in any case the acuteness of their vision is of a character 
which we are unable to appreciate. Feeding on insects so ex- 
