or
hibernating insects of various kinds. Being a timid little creature,
the Quail seldom leaves cover to feed openly in the fields, and
therefore does but little actual harm in the way of destroying grain.
In fact it only takes stray kernels that otherwise might be lost. This
bird is one of the few that feeds upon that unsavory insect, the
chinch-bug; and the number of this pest that occasionally are
destroyed by it is really astonishing. No farmer or fruit-grower
should ever kill a quail himself nor allow anyone else to hunt it on
his premises.

Our domestic fowls, save ducks and geese, from which so much direct
income is derived throughout the year, belong here. It would be folly
on my part to assert that they are useless to the farmer. Besides
furnishing eggs and meat for the table, they are great aids in keeping
down a variety of noxious insects during spring, summer, and fall.

The various species of Doves or Pigeons are not, as a rule, thought of
as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their
stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever,
consists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with
other particles of vegetation. The good done by these birds as
destroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as
grain-eaters.

Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and
Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go to
show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer's
friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they
accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other
small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far
exceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destruction of
poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents
of about twenty-seven hundred stomachs of these birds showed that only
six of the seventy-three species found in the United States are
injurious. Three of these are so rare that they need not be
considered. Of the remaining three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly
injurious: hence but two remain to be considered, viz., the
Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. "Omitting the six species that feed
largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which
56 per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27 per cent insects,
and only 31/2 per cent poultry and game birds."

The food habits of