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National Geographic : 1908 Feb
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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE Photo from the Biological Survey A MONUMENT TO THE INDUSTRY OF BARN OWLS Field Mouse skulls found under owl roost in Smithsonian tower, Washington (see page 87) So, naturalists observe, a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum. After due recognition of the part in sect parasites play in the economy of nature, it is evident that, unassisted, they are unequal to the task of keeping insect life in a proper state of equilibrium. In this work birds play an important, though it may be relatively a somewhat sub ordinate part. Had parasitic and pre daceous insects been equal to the task of holding in check insect pests, there would be no place in the world for insect-eating birds. In the progress of evolution, how ever, long after insects and insect para sites appeared, birds found a place va cant, which even their reptilian ancestors had not been able to occupy, and pro ceeded to fill it. Having once gained a place in the world, birds entered into a competitive struggle with each other and with other insect-eaters. In the course of time they developed into a great number of families, each distinguished by pecul iarities of form, plumage, and habits, and each endowed with methods of its own in the pursuit of food. That so many birds are insect-eaters is an index alike of the enormous reproductive capacity of insects and the inadequacy of the forces that warred on insects before the advent of birds. HAWKS AND OWLS ARE NOT MARAUDERS BUT MOST BENEFICIAL The popular idea regarding hawks and owls is that they are nothing but robbers and bold marauders. Their real charac ter and the nature of their services to man are generally overlooked. The fact is that the great majority of our hawks and owls are beneficial, and spend the greater part of their lives in killing small rodents, most of which are always and everywhere noxious. Hawks and owls are long-lived birds, as birds go, and this fact gives a hint of their importance in the eyes of nature and of their value as servants of man. The work of hawks and owls is com plementary. All hawks are diurnal, and hunt their prey between the hours of day light and dark. Owls, on the contrary, are chiefly nocturnal, but do much of their hunting in the early evening and morning hours, or by moonlight, and when pressed by hunger or when feeding young, they sometimes hunt by day. Hence, between them, hawks and owls 86
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