A PLEA FOR OUR HAWKS.

Forest and Bird, Issue 12, 1 April 1927, Page 5

A PLEA FOR OUR HAWKS.

The following remarks appear in “Nature Magazine” (America) under the signature of Edward A. Preble, who deplores the threatened extinction of birds of prey, and points out that hawks are not what they are usually painted, but have their place in the balance of Nature, and that this place is largely of benefit to man, including sportsmen.

There are those, and they are many, who fail to see that birds of prey fill an important part in the great scheme of Nature. Does the hunter who shoots down the hawk at every opportunity, because some species occasionally captures what he is pleased to consider his special property, ever stop to ask himeslf what caused the quail and other non-migratory game birds to attain those powers of swift flight which alone make them desirable as objects of sport? It is the bird of prey, pursuing the other since the days of their creation, which has developed not only its own strength of wing, but that of its quarry. And just as surely as this is true, so truly will that power be lost if the contributing cause be removed. The Dodo, a pigeon, found himself on the island of Mauritius where enemies were unknown. He yielded to gluttony and inaction, developed a corpulence that forbade flight, and was eaten from the face of the earth within a short time after his discovery by man. His relative, the rock dove, who had to escape the pursuing hawk or perish, developed and still retains a power of wing which is famous the world over. In the same way several other species, notably some of the rails, by adopting a care-free life, have forfeited flight, and now face extermination whenever any active enemy invades their haunts. The very hawks which we are now exterminating have made our grouse and quail what they are. The great value of hawks in the removal of game birds suffering from contagious diseases is also recognised by close students of the subject.

A little thought should convince anyone of the fallacy of the argument that the lessening ranks of our game birds have been the result of depredation of hawks,a theory that has been the basis of most of the prejudice directed toward them. If this were well founded, then the decimation of the predators would have resulted in an increase in game birds. In truth both hawks and game have decreased simultaneously, and from the same primary cause.

As an instance of the destruction of innocent hawks under mere suspicion, there may be cited an item just published in the report of progress of an investigation of methods for increasing quail. Upwards of thirty marsh hawks were frequenting roosting places in the game covers, and about half of these were shot. Then over a thousand of the castings of the birds were examined, each representing a meal, with the result that the remains of four quail were found, while more than nine hundred meals had included one or more cotton rats, which eat the eggs of the quail. Indeed, the statement is emphasised that most of the enemies of the quail are also the destroyers of its foes. This instance illustratesthe complexity of a problem which many have the assurance to settle off-hand, even when their answer means the extermination of the species under suspicion.

Hawks and other birds of prey, as well as the song birds and the so-called game birds, are all a part of Nature’s wealth of life, a wealth that belongs not alone to the student of song birds, nor to the sportsman, but to all the people for all time. The ancestors of our living birds of prey have joined the extinct faunas of the world, and their passing is a part of its history. So in time will our recent species leave their bones in the rocks, and should be succeeded by other forms. We owe it to those of our race who follow us that we refrain from destroying any of these links in the chain. Yet in our treatment of many beautiful and interesting forms of wild life, feathered and furred, we are pursuing a course unworthy of a race which prides itself on its scientific knowledge. On this continent there is still a wonderful supply of wild life that is ever increasingly dear to that growing class who wish to observe it in its daily life, rather than to destroy it for sport or gain. Still, in these interests, the killing of many of our most interesting species goes on, almost without restraint, until extermination threatens. . Then, all at once, some magic power of restoration is invoked, and in this blind process other equally valuable forms are swept out of existence.

Man himself, for all we now know, may vanish from earth, and give place to other organisms, perhaps some which he now despises. The past is irrevocable; the future is bevond our power to hasten or to abate. But if man’s search for knowledge is to justify itself, he will not destroy these beautiful forms of life wantonly, but will protect them for the good of all, considering his neighbour.