The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-01-17

hawks and owls is that they are
nothing but robbers and bold
marauders. Their real character
and the nature of their services to
man are generally overlooked. The
fact is that the great majority OF
our hawks and owls are beneficial
and spend the greater part of their
lives in killing small rodents, most
of which are always and every
where noxious. Hawks and evils
are long-lived birds, as birds go,
knd this fact gives hint of their
importance in the eyes of nature
land of their value as servants OF
man. The work of hawks and owls
is complementary. All hawks are
diurnal, and hunt their prey be-
tween the hours of daylight and
dark. Owls, on the contrary, are
chiefly nocturnal, but do much OF
their hunting in the early evening
and morning hours. or by moon
light, and when pressed by hunger
or when feeding young, they some
times hunt by day. Hence, be-
tween them, hawks and owls are
on duty throughout the twenty
four hours, and thus are enabled to
ssrey on all kinds of rodents, large
and small, those which are abroad
by night as we'll as those active by
day.
The bulk of the destruction of
birds and chickens due to hawks,
is committed by three species-the
Cooper and sharp-shinned hawks
and the goshawk; and the sports
man and farmers boy should learn
to know these daring robbers by
sight, so as to kill them whenever
possible. The so-called ''hen
hawks" usually either the red
shouldered or red-tailed hawk are
often made victims of a bad name;
for while both species occasionally
snatch a chicken, the habit is far
too uncommon to Justify the name
''hen hawk" The good these two
big hawks do in long run by de-
stroying rats and mice far more
than compensates the farmer for
the insignificant damage he suffers
at their talons.
The practice of Offering bounties
for the heads of hawks and owls,
as has been done by some states,
is mistake, and results not only
in the wasting of public funds, but
in the destruction of valuable lives,
which can be replaced, if at all
only with great difficulty, and after
lapse of a term of years. In nc
one particular does the public, es-
pecially the sportsman and farmer,
need to be educated more than in
the value of hawks. The tempta.
tion to shoot a hawk or owl, perch
ing or flying, is we'll nigh irresti-
BILE and the bad habit is having the
natural result of so reducing the
numbers of these birds as to make
it impossible for the survivors to
do the work nature intended them
to do.
The notable increase of noxious
rodents in the last decade in GER
tain parts of the United States and
the resulting damage to CT ops with
out doubt are due in no small part
to the destruction of their natural
enemies, chief of which are birds
of prey.
When the public is fully in
formed as to the value of hawks
and owls and an enlightened senti-
ment is exerted in their behalf,
they will increase in numbers and
the damage to crops from noxious
mammals will correspondingly di-
minish.
The thrushes and the ground
feeders scour the surface of the
earth and hunt under leaves fo1
hidden insects. The warblers, tit
mice, nuthatches, creepers, and
others search among the foliage
and in the crevices of bark for all
manner of creeping things. The
woodpeckers, highly specialized
group, perform service no other
birds are equal to. since with their