Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-09-10
BIRDS OF PREY
FARMERS ALLIES.
Household Cat Responsible For
Many Deeds Blamed On Hawks.

While conservation in all OF it's
branches is being carried ON throughout
the United States in a most satisfactory
manner. the farmers of the South have.
at the same time. neglected many things
right at their own door that mean an
annual loss to them of many thousands
of hard-earned dollars. One of these is
the perpetual slAughtering of many
spices of birds and animals that could
be used in many branches of human en-
deavor il only their lives were spared.
A. K. Fisher, in charge of economic
Investigations in the department of
agriculture. has recently made a study
along this line and has just made an
interesting report on the subject.
Many an innocent hawk, says Mr..
Fisher, skunk. owl and weasel has been
shot for the deeds of that slick high
wayman-the house cat. 1t is safe to
say that this maruder, which enjoys all
the comforts and protection of home,
destroys in the aggregate more wild
birds and young poultry than all the
native natural enemies combined. A
cat has been known to kill a whole
brood of chickens in day, feat uneq-
ualed by any predacious animal, with
the possible exception of the mink.
Others in the course of a season have
practically destroyed whole coveys of
quail or grouse. or nest full of young
songsters. A well known naturalist es-
Inmates that in the New England States
alone l. SOC, 900 birds are destroyed an
nually by cats.
The offender is not so often the well
fed household pet as it is the abandoned
and neglected outcast. In 1905 the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals in New York city killed
monthly an average of 6. 900 sick, injured
or homeless cats-a total for the year
of over TO- 900.
The fox, from its occasional misdeeds,
is looked upon by the majority of man.
kind as deep-dyed william that deyotes
his entire time to robbery and derives
all his forage from the chickenyard or
duckpen. AS a matter of fact, even in
localities where foxes are abundant, it
is comparatively rare that poultry is
destroyed by them. The mink feeds on
fish, cray-fish, mussels, birds and, like
the weasel. is indefatigable in its search
for meadow mice and other marsh-loving
rodents. 1t is very fond of muskrat and
one of its most important services to
man is the destruction of these pests
about mill-dams, canals and dykes.
where their burrows undermine the
embankment and cause disastrous
overfiows. S
The weasel is one of natures most
efficient checks upon the hordes of mea-
dow mice and other rodents which at
times destroy forage crops. orchards,
vineyards and garden produce. 1t tfeeds
also upon rabbits, squirrels and birds,
and in many sections its occasional in
roads on the poultry yard have brought
it into serious disrsppte. tits, of course,
desirable to kill particular individuals
which have acquired the poultry habit,
but farmers and horticulturists will
make mistake if they systematically
destroy weasels.
The sooner the farmers, raneh-men.
horticuiturists and dnurserymenlearnt that
the great majority of birds of prey are
their friends and deserve protection,
and that four or five species only are
injurious, the sooner will depredations
by noxious rodents and insects diminish.
In the more thickly settled sections of
the country, except at rare intervals.
the goosehawk, duckhawk and great
horned owl, are so infrequent that
years may pass without an individual
being seen. Two species that need to be
kept in check are the sharp-shinned and
Cooper hawks, small and medium sized
species. which feed almost entirely on
wild birds and pooltry.
The important fact to bear IN mind is
that all hawks and owls feed largely on
noxious rodents and the larger insects.
such as grasshoppers. crickets and may
beetles, from their size and voracious
appetites. are important factors in re-
ducing the numbers of such pests and
keeping them under control.
The annual loss of crops by insects
and mammal pests in the United States
amounts to many millions of dollars.