Various - Birds and Nature Vol. 9 No. 2 [February 1901]

Among the birds that are most useful to man may be classed the Hawks. They, with the vultures, the eagles and the owls, belong to the bird order Raptores, or birds of prey. Unlike the vultures the Hawks feed upon living prey while the former seek the dead or dying animal. The vultures are often called “Nature’s Scavengers,” and in many localities they have been so carefully protected that they will frequent the streets of towns, seeking food in the gutters.

The family Falconidae, which includes the Hawks, the falcons, the vultures, the kites, and the eagles – all diurnal birds of prey – numbers about three hundred and fifty species, of which between forty and fifty are found in North America. The remainder are distributed throughout the world.

The flight of the Hawks is more than beautiful, it is majestic. Even when perched high in the air on the top of a dead monarch of the forest, there is a silent dignity in their pose. It is from these perches that some of the species watch the surrounding country for their prey, swooping down upon it when observed and seizing it in their long, sharp and curved claws. Their food is almost invariably captured while on the wing. The bill, which is short, hooked and with sinuate cutting edges, is used for tearing the flesh of its victim into shreds.

Among our more common hawks there are but five or six that may truthfully be classed among the birds that are injurious to the interests of man. Among these, the Cooper’s hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk deserve the most attention, as they feed almost entirely upon other birds and poultry. To these two the name chicken hawk may be aptly applied. The domestic pigeon is a dainty morsel for these ravagers of the barnyard. On the other hand, by far the larger number of the Hawks are of great value to man. They are gluttonous whenever the food supply is unlimited, and, as their powers of digestion are wonderfully developed, it takes but a short time for the food to be absorbed and they are then ready for more. With their keen eyesight they readily detect the rodents and other small mammals that are so destructive to crops and with a remarkable swiftness of flight they pounce upon them. Dr. Fisher says, “Of the rapacious birds with which our country is so well furnished, there are but few which deserve to be put on the black list and pursued without mercy. The greater number either pass their whole lives in the constant performance of acts of direct benefit to man or else more than make good the harm they do in the destruction of insectivorous birds and poultry by destroying a much greater number of mammals well known to be hostile to the farmer.”

Dr. Fisher obtained the following results from the examination of the stomachs of two thousand, two hundred and twelve birds of prey. This number does not include any of those that feed extensively upon game and poultry. In three and one-half per centum the remains of poultry or game birds were found; eleven per centum contained remains of other birds; forty-two and one-half per centum contained the remains of mice; in fourteen per centum other mammals were found and twenty-seven per centum contained insect remains. This summary includes not only the Hawks but also the owls, eagles and related birds. It is evident from these results that man has a friend in these birds that is of inestimable value to him.

The use of falcons and Hawks in the chase dates far back in the history of the Old World. For ages it was one of the principal sports of mankind and especially of the nobility. Hawks may be trained to a high degree of efficiency in the capturing of other birds. It is said that the Chinese knew of this characteristic of the Hawks at least two thousand years before the time of Christ. In Japan the art of falconry was practiced about six or seven hundred years before Christ.

The art is also believed to be represented in a bas-relief found in the Khorsahad ruins in which a falconer is apparently bearing a hawk on his wrist. Thus these ancient ruins of Nineveh show that the art must have been known at least seventeen hundred years before Christ.

That falconry was known to the ancient races of Africa is highly probable, though there is but little in the earlier written history of that continent regarding it. Egyptian carvings and drawings, however, indicate without a doubt that the art was there known centuries ago. Falconry is still practiced to some extent in Africa.

The art, though not obsolete in those countries of Europe where, in the middle ages, it was regarded as the greatest and most noble of all sports, is not national in its character. During the reign of William the Conqueror laws were enacted in England which were most stringent regarding falconry. At one time “falcons and hawks were allotted to degrees and orders of men according to rank and station, to royalty the jerfalcon, to an earl the peregrine, to a yeoman the goshawk, to a priest the sparrow-hawk, and to a knave or servant the useless kestrel.”

To train a hawk for this sport requires great skill and patience. The temper, disposition and, in fact, every peculiarity of each individual bird must be carefully studied. In these respects it may be said that no two birds are exactly alike. Technically the name falcon, as used by the falconer, is applied only to the female of the various species used in the conducting of this sport.

The peregrine falcon or hawk is usually accepted as the type falcon of falconry. The name peregrine, from the Latin peregrinus, means wandering, and refers to the fact that this species is almost cosmopolitan, though the geographical races are given varietal names. The duck hawk (Falco peregrinus anatum) is one of the representatives in America. “The food of this hawk consists almost exclusively of birds, of which water-fowl and shore birds form the greater part.”

The Hawks of our illustration are natives of North America ranging from Mexico northward. The American Rough-legged Hawk (Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis) is a geographical variety of a rough-legged form that is found in northern Europe and Asia. It is also known by the names of Black Rough-legged and Black Hawk.

This Hawk is one of the largest and most attractive of all the species of North America. Dr. Fisher tells us that “it is mild and gentle in disposition, and even when adult may be tamed in the course of a few days so that it will take food from the hand and allow its head and back to be stroked. When caged with other species of hawks, it does not as a rule fight for the food, but waits until the others have finished, before it begins to eat.”