Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-01-11

child's throat on the farm-so much
lost energy from the days work
certainly our farmers knowledge OF
the hawk must put him out of sym
pathy with an otherwise comely bird,
and fills him to overh owing with en-
thusiastic prejudice-in TRUTH "a curse
and wish for his utter extinction.
Stated simply the hawk is against
the farmer and the farmer should be
against the hawk. | do not overlook
one point Of agreement between Doc
tor Fisher and the farmer We know and
that is the hawks tremendous eyery-
day appetite--so tremendous, in fact,
as to give rise to the old negro's super
stition that the hawks ''in'ards" are
made Of india rubber to accommo-
date better the witch with her para
phernalia for dark doings when she
uses this omino1s bird to go on her
journeys Of f"tricking." Doctor Fisher
finds the evidence of the hawks food
supply and the enormous quantity he
bankers after is In his pellets, or cast
ings as we call them, some sixty to
ninety per cent, as he avows in favor
OF the lizard, snake, etc., diet;
but the old-timed negro SO finds his
evidence in support of his witch
theory, for as recall hunt with an
involuntary emigrant from Dahomy,
when on halting under tree which
proved to be hawks roost, on noting
the castings lying around, he dared
not touch there, my guide was heard
to remark to himself, "Yais, dars
de duck fedders, dars de chicken bone,
dars the tn'ky toe-nail de witches does
de trikin' wid." Hair, nor fur, nor
insect scales, nor vermin bone weren't
in it. So these vomits, or castings,
from the hawks ''in'ards," or locally
the crop, makes the evidence of both
these dogmatists internal, and any
body knows internal evidence aint
worth cent unless it is supported
by external evidence, which is the
kind we farmers go on in trying the
hawk, as it is the kind that hangs.
For one, do not swallow all the dog
mas of the Nj. DIS or any of the other
Dr's. without some grains of salt, and
then | may want it sandwiched be.
tween fried eggs or done up in chicken
pie--if the hawk hasn't done his work
so well as to force a snake fillet or
insect broth as he has helped to do
on the noble red man. Aud as for
the negro's internal evidence, his
outcome lands us in the supernatu-
raj, of course, and | shall he no be-
lieyer-well, not in broad daylight
in witches.
But ring down the curtain on
Doctor Fishers rhapsody on the
hawk-so intelligent, brave and
beautiful-whose sweet tooth grinds
in the farmers favor on the succu-
lent frog and lizard caviare. Lay
aside the high sounding titles of this
benefactOr to tn ose who live best by
the hen-nest aud chicken-coop, but
sweat and toll against the insects
and rodents in the cornfield. We
know him not as Buteoborealis, Ac-
cipiter "COPPER", Butes lineatus, but
we know HIM only too well. 1t
is he that robs our pockets and
runs a bazz-saw against our nerves.
For certainty there are three
of him whose ravening fixes our
considerte prejudice. Whether he
belongs to the falcon or goshawk
tribe makes no difference, but to
designate him they may be described
as he IN known to every man, woman
and child by the size of his catch, TO
wit: the baby chicken size, the fry
ing chicken size, the old hen size.
A knowledge of them, a prejudice
against them, is the cause of great
earnest wish going out that he be
knocked out, dead sure.
From what is gathered, hawks are
about as destructive in one part of
Lancaster as another, in one part of
the four counties as another. There
are two householders on the farm
where | live. Within the past
twelve months no less than $40
worth Of fowls have been DESTROYED
on this farm alone. Without the
records but going on the usual
statistical estimate there are in this
county 1000 households. Basing on
what is destroyed on the farm men,
toned. from the farmers point of
view, what does this hawk talk mean?
They are out $4,000 every year in
feeding the hawks. Then the un-
known quantity in tie diminution of
eggs by reason of their stealing,
some thousands more might be ad-
ded. AS our people barter so con-
siderably in this exchange-mainly
poultry and eggs-it means that
$l2 900 or more is taken from their
capital stock-their great medium of
exchange-each year by the feathered
thief alone. Man has been known