P. A. Taverner
Published: 2018-02-07
Total Pages: 26
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Excerpt from The Hawks of the Canadian Prairie Provinces in Their Relation to Agriculture: August, 1918 The hawks have long been regarded as pariahs among birds and have been killed whenever occasion offered. Poultry-men and game conservators have been especially bitter in their persecution of them. Legislatures have not only refrained from protecting these birds, but in some cases, have placed bounties on their heads. The results have not always been satisfactory and when ailing game which would have been destroyed by the hawks have transmitted their diseases to' healthy birds, or rodents or other vermin have increased to plague numbers, we have often had cause to regret hasty action. To - day, when the whole world is straining every nerve to increase the food supply, the status of these birds becomes of even more pressing importance than formerly and it is necessary that their economic effect be scrutinized carefully. An investigation was made by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1893 and the results embodied in Bulletin No. 3, The Hawks and Owls in the United States in their relations to agriculture. The examination of some stomachs proved that though a few species could be thoroughly condemned, the majority did enough good to counteract the evil they did, and others were altogether beneficial. Since that time much additional information has been gathered which substantiates all the conclusions then drawn. Season, and locality enter largely into the subject; a species may be harmful at one season or in one place and beneficial at other times or piaces where conditions are dissimilar, where other food is available, or other interests are at stake. Considering the great number of hawks that range the prairie provinces and the large interests at stake it seems desirable to point out clearly the economic status of these important species. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.