romeo abe Ne Bunk Eb} N 5 
A decided decrease in the number of egrets in the Illinois Valley 
occurred during the last part of September. By the middle of Octo- 
ber the majority of the birds had departed, but still a number, un- 
usual for the season, remained. On October 15, 1938, 45 individuals 
were observed perched in the tree tops near Chillicothe in order to 
escape the disturbance caused by duck hunters. 
An unusual American egret was one which remained on Lake 
Chautauqua throughout November and up to December 15. An egret 
was reported on December 17 by a reliable observer near Beardstown, 
50 miles away. Could it nave been the same one? 
Urbana, Ill. 
Save the Hawks! 
By C. W. G. EIFRIG 
IN THESE “New Deal” times at least one class of our fellow Ameri- 
cans is not getting a square deal. I refer to our hawks. Thirty or 
forty years ago it was a common sight out in the “country” to see 
a pair of red-tailed or red-shouldered hawks soaring over nearly every 
piece of woodland in the North Central States. It was a distinct 
pleasure to see their graceful aerial evolutions. Now they have gone 
from the scene. Some time ago I drove from Chicago, on a round- 
about journey to Maine and return (about 3,000 miles) and saw only 
four or five hawks! 
But are not hawks all killers? Destroyers of poultry? Decidedly 
no! Are they not all vermin and predators? Emphatically no! But 
is there not the evidence of many who have seen hawks carry away 
chickens or quail? That is true of only two or three of our hawks. 
Is it fair or sensible to pronounce a death sentence upon all hawks 
for the misdeeds of a few? 
Before the white man came with his guns there were many mil- 
lions of game birds and many more hawks than now. The blame 
for the disappearance of game birds and other wildlife lies with the 
gun toter. . 
There are three orders of birds of prey: vultures, hawks and 
owls. The vultures are carrion-feeders, therefore useful. The owls 
are overwhelmingly useful in destroying rodents. The pellets, dis- 
gorged at their roosting places, of hair, skulls and bones of mice, 
proclaim their usefulness. 
The hawks may be divided into these subfamilies: kites, buteos 
or buzzards, accipitrine hawks, falcons, and eagles and ospreys. As 
early as 1893 the U. S. Department of Agriculture published “The 
Hawks and Owls of the United States in Their Relation to Agri- 
culture,’ giving the stomach contents of hundreds of hawks and owls 
sent in from all parts of the country at all seasons. This is out of 
print. A fine book, recently published by the National Association 
of Audubon Societies, “The Hawks of North America,” by John B. 
May, can be purchased at the offices of the Illinois Audubon Society 
for $1.25, which is less than cost. Each species is shown in a beau- 
