Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/269

 Po-pvlar Srinirc MoiilJiIi/

��other prf\-

��upon the crops of the agriculturist. Still species of hawks, as the Duck Hawk, entirely upon feathered game, and nc\er come near the l)arn\ard. Birds of that class do no more than we do ourselves — hunt ducks for food. That a number of species of hawks do con- stantlj- prey upon both the old and }oung of various kind of domestic fowls, there is no question; moreover, they feed upon a large number of them in the course of a year. Still, no indi\idual poidtry-raiscr or farmer loses a sufficient numlier of his fowls an!uiall\-, through the attacks of hawks, either to impo\-erish iiini or so far embitter him as to cause him to be the enemy of every hawk of every species in the country. To follow such a policy is an extremeh' grave error; it would be like exterminating all snakes and owls for the reason that a fe-w snakes arc venomous, and the larger owls occasionally capture a domestic fowl. If we consider all the snakes and all the owls as a group, they save from damage and destruc- tion farm products to the extent of many millions of dollars

�����The Broad-Wing Hawk which preys upon mice

��A very young Sparrow

Hawk in its fledgeling

covering

��Full-grown Sparrow Hawk — one of the farmer's feathered friends

annually. The pity is that they are so constantly preyed -upon that they cannot accomplish results to be appreciated by us.

��Wolves of the Sea that

Abound in Cuban

Waters

FACTS appear in- contestably that sharks, and big ones, abound in Cuban waters; that thousands of swimmers are never attacked; and that there arc perfectly authentic instances of people being maimed or killed by them. The Antillean shark is less dangerous than some Australian and South Pacific species. In clear water of fifteen or twenty feet depth he is timid. Near a boat anchored where the bottom can be seen from the surface, as in those waters it commonh- can Ije at the depth named, the bather is safe. In deeper water there is risk. If there is blood in the water from a wounded man or fish, the swimmer's peril is great. Indifferciu, lazy creatures, of a low order of intelligence, sharks are instantly frenzied by the presence of blood, and will atttick an>thing that moves.

More than the sharks, the Barrera cruiser; fear, when inclined to a morning plunge, tlu picoua, a big and aggressi\e fellow with a protruding jaw fitted with long, sharp teeth. L\ing motionless near the bottom in rock\- retreats about the oftshorc reefs, he darts at hi ; pre>' with remarkable swiftness. His sinister appearance has given him an evil reputation.

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