osely
related, and look much alike, but the former has a rounded tail and the
latter a square one. In killing them, _please do not kill any other hawk
by mistake_; and if you do not positively recognize the bird, don't
shoot.

THE GOSHAWK is a bad one, and so is the PEREGRINE FALCON, or DUCK HAWK.
Both deserve death, but they are so rare that we need not take them into
account.

Some of the hawks and owls are very destructive to song-birds, and
members of the grouse family. In 159 stomachs of sharp-shinned hawks, 99
contained song-birds and woodpeckers. In 133 stomachs of Cooper's hawks,
34 contained poultry or game birds, and 52 contained other birds. The
game birds included 8 quail, 1 ruffed grouse and 5 pigeons.

THE WOODPECKERS.[I]--These birds are the natural guardians of the trees.
If we had enough of them, our forests would be fairly safe from insect
pests. Of the six or seven North American species that are of the most
importance to our forests, the DOWNY WOODPECKER, (_Dryobates pubescens_)
is accorded first rank. It is one of the smallest species. The contents
of 140 stomachs consisted of 74 per cent insects, 25 per cent vegetable
matter and 1 per cent sand. The insects were ants, beetles, bugs, flies,
caterpillars, grasshoppers and a few spiders.

[Footnote I: The reader is advised to consult Prof. F.E.L. Beale's
admirable report on "The Food of Woodpeckers," Bulletin No. 7, U.S.
Department of Agriculture.]

THE HAIRY WOODPECKER, (_Dryobates villosus_), a very close relation of
the preceding species, is also small, and his food supply is as follows:
insects, 68 per cent, vegetable matter 31, mineral 1.

THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER, (_Colaptes auratus_), is the largest and
handsomest of all the woodpeckers that we really see in evidence. The
Pileated is one of the largest, but we never see it. This bird makes a
specialty of ants, of which it devours immense numbers. Its food is 56
per cent animal matter (three-fourths of which is ants), 39 per cent is
vegetable matter, and 5 per cent mineral matter.

THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER is a serious fruit-eater, and many complaints
have been lodged against him. Exactly one-half his food supply consists
of vegetable matter, chiefly wild berries, acorns, beechnuts, and the
seeds of wild shrubs and weeds. We may infer that about one-tenth of his
food, in summer and fall, consists of cultivated fruit and berries. His
proportion of cultivated foods is entirely too sma