The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC }. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
ANOTHER KIND OF AIR RAID.

scientists of the biological survey. The
severe weather of the past few months
has killed off the great hares of south
ern Canada, with the result that
horde of hungry hawks and owls has
been forced to migrate southwark.
These Canadian birds of prey are OF
the largest and most deadly species,
and they are working havoc with
small. game and poultry from New
England to California and as far south
as northern Virginia.
The worst of all the invaders is the
goshawk-a great bird which does not
normally range south of the Canadian
boundary. The gosnawks are among
the most daring and deadly of the
birds of prey. and their invasion of
the United States was signalized by
an incident worthy of their character.
Near Washington, in Maryland, the
department of agriculture has model
poultry farm where it conducts ex-
periments in turkey and chicken Gull
ture for the benefit of the whole peo
pie. A few days ago, the federal
chicken experts were dismayed to see
a gray bolt of bird drop from the
clouds into the midst of their feed
ing focks, strike a large and valuable
Rhode Island red rooster, and rise tri-
umphantly with the fowl in its talons.
One of the caretakers brought the in
vader down with a shotgun. Its head
was sent to the biological survey and
DR.. A. K. Fisher identified it as a
Canadian goshawk. Thus did the gos-
hawks, with Hunnish daring. stage an
air raid on the capital
An idea of the numbers of these in
vaders may be gained from a report
sent to the survey by the owner of a
pheasant farm in Connecticut just
south of Hartford. This game farm
er has killed this year eignty-three
defense of orfx
He has also killed ninety great horned
Owls. altho not one of these birds
had been seen in the vicinity for years
until this past winter. His bag also
included sixty Cooper's hawks and
thirty-five sharp-shinned hawks. both
| OF these being species that destroy
| poultry and game.
| One of the worst disasters resulting
| from this fngress of Canadian birds of
| prey is the destruction of our game
| birds. The ruffed grouse, which is the
| best game bird of New England and
the Great Lakes region, has been al
| most eXterminated over much of it's
range, and many sportsmen will be
disappointed next fall.
| To the scientists of the biological
survey, the problem presented by this
phenomenal migration of hawks is an
J economic one. For years they have
been trying to make people realize
! that birds are necessary to agricul-
|
| without them. And among the most
| useful of the birds are come of the
hawks and owls. which destroy field
mice, rats and other vermin. DR.. A.
| K. Fisher is an especially Jealous
champion of these useful hawks and
owls. If a magazine or newspaper
| writer, taking ventureson1e fling into
| the field of orthodoxy unhappily
imputes crime to one of these can
onized birds, Doctor Fisher has him
apology. He has proved just what
every species of hawk and owl in the
| United States lives on by the heroic
but conclusive method of killing them
and examining their Stomachs. He
| has also shown that in some parts of
the country whole orchards have been
destroyed by vermin because there
We're no birds of prey to protect them.
The difficulty about making this
pro-hawk propaganda effective is
that, to the average farmer and sub
| urbanite, all hawks look alike. He
cannot tell the chicken-e eating from
the rat-catching varieties. and SO he
shoots them all. Now the situation
has been rendered doubly embarrass-
ing by this destructive invasion, which
is certainly going to get the whole
tribe of hawks a bad name, and start
an army of shot-gunners after them.
| But Doctor Fisher points out that
almost any one who will take the
trouble can distinguish the useful
from the destructive hawks Typical
useful hawks are the marsh hawk, the
red shouldered hawk, and the sparrow
hawk. These, and nearly all of the
other good hawks are of a reddish
, or brownish color, while all of the
destructive hawks are gray. Further.
more, the good hawks are lazy, easy
) going birds that flap their wings heav-
lily and sail like buZzardS over the
, fields and orchards. looking for rats
and mice. Between hunts they perch
) in plain sight on some high tree top OIL
telephone post. If not molested they
become quite indifferent to the pres.
ence of man.
The appearance and action of such
pirate birds as the goshawk. the Coop
. ly different. They do not flap and
sail, but fly swiftly and steadily WITH
pid wing beats, like a travelling pig.
: con. They neither fly nor perch il
+ plain sight. but dart thru forest ant
copse, keeping under cover. They are
birds of stealth, veritable tigers of tn,
: air, striking suddenly whatever stirs il
I the path of their flight. They are wiit
and wary. seldom seen. So the laz,
and unsuspicious marsh hawk, dozins
e on pine stub with a crop full O
9 meadow mice, generally gets the 1oat
of shot, while a sharp-shinned hawl
makes off unseen with the farmer
chicken.
n There is a notable difference il
l. forr, too, between the destructiv,
and beneficial hawks. The former ar,
long and narrow and built for speed
n like the pirate craft of romance. TIL,
rat-huntins hawk is squat, heavy
a let bird in comparison, and a shorte
and broader tail.
Th2re is much reason to believ,
S that these ground-hunting hawks will
/: not kill either birds or poultry unles
actual scarcity of rodents forces then
- to do so o.. st2rve. Not long ago Doc
: tor Fisher was driving thru the coun
s try with a farmer when a big re,
< Shouldered hawk was seen perche,
on pine stub near a cornfield wher
a covey or quail fed. The farmer wa
convinced that the hawk was goin
e % kill the QuGil-a thing which h