THE HAWK’S PLACE IN NATURE.

Forest and Bird, Issue 37, 1 August 1935, Page 13

THE HAWK’S PLACE IN NATURE.

A Friend of Farmers.

A very interesting book “The Hawks of North America” (by John Richard May), has just been published by the National Association of Audubon Societies, one of the world’s leading organisations for a proper conservation of wild life. “Do you realise,” the preface states, “that most hawks, in spite of the widespread prejudice against the members of this group of birds, should be classed among the best friends of the farmer because of their destruction of injurious rodents and other pests, and that very few hawks ever molest poultry! This volume has been prepared in the hope that by presenting the facts it may arouse a more friendly interest in these generally unappreciated and maligned birds through a better knoAvledge of their real habits and their place in the economy of nature. “Just what do we mean when we call a bird a ‘hawk?’ To the average uninformed farmer a hawk is a robber of poultry yards; to the gunner, sportsman and game-breeder, a hawk is ‘vermin’ to be ruthlessly destroyed; to the ammunition manufacturer and sporting-goods dealer a hawk is an unprotected bird and therefore another target; to the biologist a hawk is a wonderful example of adaptation for life in a certain definite niche, a check upon harmful rodents, a control against the over-production of normally useful creatures and an invaluable instrument in preserving the ‘balance of nature’; to the vast and rapidly increasing number of nature lovers and amateur bird students a hawk is one of the finest and most interesting forms of bird life, worthy of protection at all times

“It is evident that hawks must play an important role in nature or they would not be found in such large numbers of species and so widely distributed, but until a comparatively few years ago man had very little conception of what that part might be / —-

“Popular opinion and scientific research often differ markedly. The feeding habits of our hawks are among the things which recent investigations have, revealed as at odds with common beliefs.

“Many self-styled 'practical’ people demand to be shown whether hawks add to or subtract from man’s income, and they are all too prone to condemn upon slight or hearsay evidence, and to refuse to accept the testimony of sincere bird students as to the beneficial actions of these birds. It is axiomatic with the libertyloving American people that a person on trial is innocent until he is proved guilty, but we do not apparently carry this principle into our consideration of the birds of prey.”

That request of fair play for hawks will be supported by many accurate observers of such birds’ habits in New Zealand. For example, Mr. E. T. Frost, representative of the Forest and Bird Protection Society in North Auckland, has produced definite proof of the harrier’s usefulness as a killer of rats and other destructive rodents.

New Zealanders can rest assured that the National Association of Audubon Societies would not have championed the cause of hawks unless the birds deserved this defence.