The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1908-07-23

far up against the blue of the sky, and
1t is this very conspfcuousness that is
relatives, the best known are the red
responsible for their persecution. The
villain accipiters hide, while the COM
paratively harmless buteos sail into
plain view and bear the burden Of the
farmers wrath.
The officials Of the biological survey
worked trying to devise means to
abate the plague of prairie dogs. which
have increased greatly in numbers
recently. The red-tailed and his
brother hawks dearly love prairie
dogs. The farmer and the ranchman
killed the hawks, thinking that by so
doing they were saving their chickens
The prairie dogs began to multiply in
the absence Of the hawks and man
found out once more that he should
not try to interfere with the nice ad
justment Of natures economy.
The three hawks named are as timid
in many ways as their cousins accipi.
ter are bold. AS matter Of fact,
these hawks are cowardly. Possessed
of weapons with which they can kill
an ordinary antagonist. they will nee
screaming before the attack of . pur.
pie martin, king bird, jay or a
crow.
Not long since I saw a huge red
tailed hawk sitting on fencepost at
the corner Of field. A crow was
perched in a tree overhead. Sudden
ly corvus shot down and gave the red
tail thump with his wing and a
stroke with his bill. The hawk took
the affront with most unbecoming
meekness. Had 1t a particle Of spunk
1t could have killed the crow, but the
towards heart was under Its feathers.
Time after time the crow returned
to the attack, while the red-tail made
no attempt at retaliation, contenting
itself with clumsily shifting its posi-.
tion occasionally, to enable 1t to
turn the other cheek" I finally put
both birds to flight, but the hawk was
nothing the gamer thereby. for corvus
followed and buffeted him in midair.
l once found the body Of small
hawk which had met a strange fate.
The bird was hanging by the tendons
OF Its wing from the barb of wire
fence. Unquestionably 1t had been
pursuing It's quarry and had struck
the wire strand in full flight. The
impetus acquired had been such that
the hawk had swung twice around the
wire with Its wing fast to the barb.
1t had perished miserably, while some
bird or mouse lived to congratulate
itself on its narrow escape from the
enemy. 4..--.
1t is the red-tailed hawk (buteo
borealis) which perhaps is the only
bird that has taken its own photo.
graph. Robert w. Hegner. a bird
photographer and field student,
climbed 60 feet into a tree, and,
training his camera on a red-tail's 8
nest. fastened thread to the shutter
and then passed the other end around
the nest In loop. The mother hawk
returned, and in getting into the nest,
pulled the thread. snapped the shutter
and took her own picture.
The fish-hawk or osprey (pandion
haliaetus carolinensis) eats little ex-
cept fish, and strangely enough. the
bird is protected by the shore fisher.
men. whose prey II shares. 1t is sid
strangely enough" because inland
fishermen kill the kingfisher on sight
because 1t eats few trout.
1t was the sight Of a bald eagle rob
bing the dsh-hawk of Its hard-earned
food that made one of the fathers OF
the republic protest strongly against
the choice Of the eagle as the tt-d
emblem of America
EDWARD B. CLARK.
Just Step Down.