The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-06

A marauder even worse than the
| pigeon hawk, and a f1ercer foe of the
song bird, is the so-called sharp
Skinned hawk In size they are similar,
but the latter Is slate-gray above with
dark bars across the tail and the un-
der parts are barred with white or red
dish. The stomachS Of one hundred
and flfty-nine of these birds were ex-
amined by DIR. Fisher. OF these fifty
two We're empty six had been eating
poultry OF. game birds, and ninety-nine
other birds, a bloody record. This 'lit
tie blue darter" does not perch on q
dead limb and wait for his prey to come
in reach, but courses over the country
in surprisingly swift, but irregular
flight, and dashes on his quarry with
extraordinary quickness. Bold to the
point of rashness, DR.. Brewer says of
it: at has frequently been known to
seize and kill bird so large that 1t was
unable to carry 1t, and had to drop 1t
to the ground" Unfortunately, this
cut-throat is a permanent resident, and
one Of the commonest of our hawks.
Closely resembling the little blue
darter, but very much larger, is Coop
ers hawk, the boldest robber and the
worst scourge which ever depleted
farmers poultry-yard. Both the red
tailed and the red-shouldered hawks
occasionally take a chicken, but they
give warning of their whereabouts by
sailing and screaming overhead, often
for hours, before making descent, and
If they approach too near, the mother
hen or the watchful cock gives pecu-
liar warning note that will send the lit
tie ones ekurrying to shelter. Accept
ter "COPPER", on the other hand never
heralds his coming. Sailing low and
silently among the trees, unnoticed or
unseen he makes a lightning dash over
the fence into the yard, seizes chick,
and is off in safety while the farmer,
gun in hand, is watching the hawks in
the clouds. Cooper's hawk infiicts
more loss on the poultry raiser than all
other hawks combined, yet 1t is entirely
unknown to the majority Of farmers,
In appearance 1t closely resembles the
sharp-shinned hawk, but Is larger by
four or five inches. The other impor-
tant difference Is the tall, which In
Cooper's hawk Is well rounded, but In
the sharp-shinned Is almost square or
slightly notched at the end, OF the one
hundred and thrty-three Cooper's
hawks examined by DR.. Fisher, SO per
cent of those whose stomachs con-
tanned food had been eating poultry or
game birds,
OF the hawks herein mentioned, DR..
Fisher examined 1 $50 specimens. OF
this number only one hundred and sew
en- had been eating poultry Of game
t,I, hot L., N,,Jx -;x nj ,aIf
per cent of the whole number had dam
aged either farmer or sportsman,
Omitting Cooper's hawk, the percentage
is reduced to less than five. On the
other hand, five hundred and forty-nine
stomachs contained mice two hundred
and twenty-nine contained other NAM
mails, including gophers, squirrels, rab-
bits, etc, four hundred and sixty-nine |
contained frogs, snakes and other rep
tiles
1t Is certainly far within bounds to
say that every hawk, excepting the lit
tie blue darter and Coopers. will de- |
stroy every year five hundred mice or
their equivalent In insects. Each mouse
or It's equivalent insects would unques- |
cause loss to the agricultur- |
list Of cent a year, That Is to say, |
each hawk Is worth five dollars a year |
to the farmer. In point of fact, there |
is not an ornithologist in the country |
who would not raise that figure. Some |
Of the best-informed have estimated |
their value at not less than twenty dol
lars yearly. AS the chickens destroyed J
are all very young, and consequently of
comparatively small value, and as II
appears that not more than five hawks
out of every one hundred modest the
1t will be seen that in the
accounts with hawks there is
a very large balance on the debit side
of the account.-C Fl. Smith in the
New York Evening Post