s of prey. The sharp-shinned hawk rarely attacks
full-grown poultry, but preys heavily on young chickens and song birds.
In fact, it is known to eat nearly fifty species of our most useful
birds. There is no question that these birds are a serious pest and
should be destroyed, but they should not be confused with other members
of the family which are among the best friends that a farmer has in
keeping his farm clear of small enemies.

Owls and hawks eat the same class of food, the hawks flying by day and
the owls by night. Owls remain North in winter, while hawks fly farther
south.

The small species of both eat large quantities of insects, such as
grasshoppers, locusts and beetles. The larger ones are the farmer's
great protection against the meadow-mouse, the most destructive of all
animals to farm crops. It tunnels under fields and eats the roots of
grass, grain and potatoes, eats large amounts of grain and does even
more damage by girdling young trees in orchards. Rabbits injure trees in
the same way, often during the winter ruining an entire orchard in this
manner.

Squirrels, ground-squirrels, gophers, prairie-dogs, and other small
animals do serious damage in the course of a year on almost every farm.

The rough-leg hawk feeds entirely on meadow-mice, but if the supply
fails, it eats mice, rabbits and ground-squirrels, but in no instance
attacks birds. Its cousin, the ferruginous rough-leg, lives largely on
ground-squirrels, rabbits, prairie-dogs and pouched gophers. This
species also never attacks birds, and neither do any of the four members
of the kite family.

Another large class of birds,--the marsh-hawk, Harris hawk, red-tailed
hawk, red-shouldered hawk, short-tailed hawk, white-tailed hawk,
Swainson hawk, short-winged hawk, broad-winged hawk, Mexican black hawk,
Mexican goshawk, sparrow-hawk, barn-owl, long-eared owl, short-eared
owl, great gray owl, barred owl, western owl, Richardson owl,
screech-owl, snowy owl, hawk-owl, burrowing owl, pigmy owl and elf
owl--live mostly on destructive mammals, insects, frogs and snakes, but
they eat some birds and some of them occasionally catch poultry. Young
ones do much more harm than the full-grown ones, probably because they
find poultry and birds easier to obtain than other food. These species
all do great good on the farm and in the orchard and if their natural
food is plentiful and the number of the birds of prey limited, they
should be allowed to remain,