HUEIH
Hawks and Owls Destroy Many
Voracious Rodents.
Ferruginous Roughleg It One of Our
Lsrgeit nd Most Beneficial Dlrde,
ii It Feedi on Meadow Mice
and Other Mammali.
(Prepared by the United Ptnlrm Pop.irt
ment of Agriculture.)
According to biological authorities
of the United States department of
agriculture, ccrtuln hawks and owls
are of value to the farmer In destroy
ing voracious rodents. Notwithstand
ing the deep-rooted prejudice against
these birds, It Is the bullet that the
good they do overbalances the evil.
Hawks and owls may be divided ar
bitrarily Into four clusses:
1. SpecleB wholly benoflclul.
2. ThoBe chiefly beneflclul.
3. Those In which beneficial and
harmful qualities about balance.
4. Harmful species.
It should be stated that scverul birds
of prey belong to one or another class,
according to locality. A hawk or owl
may be locally Injurious becauso at
that place mice, squlrrols, Insects and
other noxious animals are scarce, und
consequently the bird Is driven to feed
on things of more or less value to
man, while In other regions where Its
natural food abounds, It does absolute
ly no harm. A good example of this
kind Is the great horned owl.
To the wholly beneficial class, the
squirrel hawk or ferruginous rough
leg and the four kites the white
tailed kite, Mississippi kite, swallow
tailed kite and everglade kite belong.
The chiefly beneficial class contains
a majority of our hawks and owls, and
Includes the following kinds: Marsh
hawk, Harris hawk, red-tailed hawk,
red-shouldered hawk, short-tailed
hawk, SwaltiBon hawk, broad-winged
bawk, Mexican black hawk, Mexican
MA
l It K
,17
Copper Hawk (Chicken Hawk). Up
per Figure, Adult Male; Lower Fig
ure, Immature Female.
goshawk, sparrow hawk, Audubon car
ticara, barn owl, long-cared owl, shorts
tared owl, great gray owl, barrel owl,
western owl, Richardson owl, Acadian
owl, screech owl, llaiumulatcd Bcreech
owl, snowy owl, hawk owl, burrowing
owl, pygmy owl, ferruginous pygmy
owl and elf owl.
The class in which the harmful and
beneficial qualities balance includes
the golden eagle, bald eagle, pigeon
hawk, Rlchnrdson hawk, Aplomado
' falcon, prairie falcon and great horned
owl.
j The harmful class comprises the
gyrfalcons, duck hawk, sharp-Bhliined
hawk, Cooper bawk and goshawk.
I The rough-legged hawk and the fer
ruginous roughleg, or squirrel hawk,
ns It Is sometimes called on account
of its fondness for ground squarrels,
so destructive la the West, are among
our largest and most beneficial hawks.
The former breeds wholly north of the
JJnlted States, migrating south in Sep
tember and October and remaining un
til the following April. The latter
breeds extensively through the great
plalnB region. The winter range of
the roughleg Is determined more by
the fall of snow than by the Intensity
of cold, the main body advancing and
retreating as the barrier of snow melts
or accumulates. Meadow mice and
lemmings form the staple food of this
bird. Lemmings do not reach our
territory, except In Alaska, but In the
north of Europe they occasionally
form Into vast, migrating, devastating
hordes, which carry destruction to
crops In the country Invaded. "The
vole, or meadow mouse, Is common
In many parts of this country, and east
of the Mississippi river, without doubt
1b the most destructive mammal to
Agriculture. It destroys meadows by
tunneling under them and eating the
roots of grass. TIiIb mouse also de
stroys grain and various kinds of "veg
etables, especlal'y tubers, but proba
bly does eren more damage by gird
ling young fruit trees.
The roughleg la one of man's most
Important allies against meadow mice,
feeding on little else during Its six
months' sojourn In the United States.
It thus renders Important service In
checking the ravages of these small
Ibut formidable pests. The roughleg
Is somewhat crepuscular In habits, be
ing on the alert during twilight and
early dawn, when snmll mammals are
most active. Other mice, rabblti and
ground squirrels are eaten occasion
Ally, and some of thr older writers
s
state that waterfowl are captured by
this bird, but there Is no known In
stance of its attacking birds. Stom
achs of specimens shot In locations
teeming with waterfowl contained
nothing but the remains of meadow
mice.
The ferruginous roughleg Is as fully
beneficial as Its relative, though the
character of its food differs some
what. In many parts of the country
Inhabited by It, meadow mice, which
play such an Important part In the
economy of the other bird, aro scarce
or wanting, but are replaced by near
ly as destructive rodents, the ground
Bqulrrols. Upon these this largo and
I'd1
m-
fa W v
8harp-Shlnned Hawk The Enemy of
Small Birds and Chickens Upper
Figure, Immature Female; Lower
Figure, Adult Male.
handsome hawk wages continuous war
fare, and great Is tlte service It per
forms In keeping their numbers In
check. Rabbits, prairie dogs, and oc
casionally pouched gophers are eaten.
The marsh hawk Is one of the most
valuable on account of Its abundance,
wide distribution and habits. It is
more or less common throughout the
United States, and may be easily rec
ognized by its white rump, slender
form and long, narrow wings, as It
boats untiringly over the meadows,
marshes and prairie lands In search
of food. If It were not that occasion
ally it pounces upon small birds, game
and poultry, its place In the first class
would be Insured, for It Is an indefa
tigable mouser. Rodents, such as
meadow mice, rabbits, arboreal squir
rels and ground squirrels, are Its fa
vorite quarry. In parts of the West
the last-named ntilmals form its chief
subsistence. Lizards, snakes, frogs
and birds also are taken. ,
Abundant proof is at hand to show
that the red-tailed hawk greatly pre
fers the smaller mammals, reptiles and
batrachlans, taking little else when
these can be obtained In sufficient
numbers. If hard pressed by hunger,
however, It will eat any form of life
and will not reject even offal and car
rion; dead crows from about the
roosts, poultry which has been thrown
on the compost heap, and flesh from
the carcasses of goats, sheep, and the
larger domesticated animals are eaten
ut such times.
The red-shouldered hawk, or, as It
is sometimes Incorrectly called, the
"hen hawk," is common, and very val
uable to the farmer. It Is more nearly
omnivorous than most of our birds of
prey, and is known to feed on mice,
birds, snakes, frogs, fish, grasshoppers,
Great Horned Owl.
centipedes, spiders, crawfish, earth
worms, and Bnalls. About 90 per cent
of Its food consists of Injurious mam
mals and insects, and hardly l',s per
cent of poultry and game.
Danger In Mixing Salt.
There Is risk In mixing salt In dry
mash, as It 1b Impossible to distribute
it evenly. It Is Injurious to a fowl to
eat too much of It. The only safe way
la to give It in wet mash. The proper
way of mixing is to use about a table
spoonful to a gallon of water. After
allowing the salt to dissolve use the
water for mixing the mash.
Good Chicken Matlngs.
Good matings are six to ten hens
of the. Asiatic class (Urahmas, Coch
Ins, etc.) ; ten to fourteen of the Amer
ican class (Plymouth Rocks, Wyan
dotte, etc.), and fourteen to twenty
of the Mediterranean class (Leghorns,
MInorcas, etc.).
IFA1RI FSI $
The New Fable of the Lonesome Rids
on the 8prlnkler.
One pleasant morning the Chief of
tho Society for Promoting the Impor
tation of Scotch Merchandise awoke
after a Ualloon Voyage which began
8 Feet below Sea Level In a RatliBkel
ter and finished 2,000 feet above tho
Altitude recorded by Lincoln Beach
ey, the Man-Illrd.
When he Came To he discovered
that the Pillow had climbed over on
top of hlra and was trying to work
tho Half-Nelson, while a large Pile
Driver, of the kind used along tho
Water Front, was beating a rhythmic
al Tattoo on hlB tender liean.
He had a Temperature of 102 and
his EarB were hanging down. Also,
during the Period of Coma some one
had extracted the Eyes and substitut
ed two hot Door-Knobs. Further
more, his Dining Room Floor was
covered with a Plush Rug.
After he had decunted a miniature
Niagara on to the Bmoklng Coppers
and removed his Collar and cautiously
picked up from the" Floor his Stick
Pin and the Watch and the Remnant
of the Check cashed at B p. m., he
felt his way over to the Window and
denounced In unmeasured Terms an
English Sparrow that had perched on
the Sill, merely to annoy him.
In a little while he remembered that
be was a Resident of the Planet
known as Earth. Soon after that his
Name came back to him and then he
recalled his Boyhood and the Fact
that when he passed the Parsonage
the Presbyterian Minister would ask
him to pick some of the Lilacs and
Snowballs and take them home to his
Sister Alice.
From that Point he groped through
his Life History up to the Twilight
on which the Regulars had arranged
a Send-Off for Old Buck, who was
1
li'lhiittliP ii
Sil'iil
fcl If Hi" '- 4
-wees v
They Saw Him Go Home With a Mag
azine Under His Arm.
pulling out for Seattle. In order to
help Buck to remember them as True
Friends, they had covertly planned to
get him Stewed to the Eye-Balls and
then ship him on to his new Home,
spread out In Stateroom B, with long
stemmed Roses laid across the Re
mains. This form of homicidal Gaiety
is perpetrated under the name of
American Hospitality.
Our Hero remembered the polite
Getaway on the Low Speed with
everybody Respectable, after which
the Fountains started to gush and
Walters began to come up out of the
Ground bearing Fairy Gifts of a
Liquid Variety. Somewhat later In
the Evening he found himself bal
anced on one Toe on a swiftly-moving
Cloud, announcing to the Stars of
Night that he was a True Sport.
In other words, he realized, as he
Pat humped over In the Morris Chair,
holding on to the Head, lest It should
foil off and roll across the Floor, that
he had been Snooted for Fair. Plas
tered, Ossified, Benzoated, Piped,
(Pickled, Spifflicated, Corned, Raddled,
Obfuscated, Soused and Ory-Eyed.
Six hours before, he had stood on
h Table and declared for the Brother
hood of Man and now he craved but
one Companion and that was old
Colonel R. E. Morse.
Standing over in the Sunlight by
Ihe Window, where he could see the
innocent Shop-Girls going blithely to
their $ a week, he lifted the trem
bling Right Mitt clear above his Head
nnd then and there declared himself
to be on the Cart until the great Ce
lestial Bodies should skid In their Or
bits and the Globe Itself dissolve Into
Vapor.
Just as he pronounced the "Words,
'Nev-ER A-gen", he felt a great Flood
Df worthy Resolutions arising in his
iew Moral Nature. He would buy a
Winchester Automatic and devote the
remainder of his wasted Life to shoot
ng up Barkeeps. And when he died,
ihe whole Estate would go to the
V. C. T. U.
That afternoon the Survivors of the
Midnight Massacre got together at a
ti- iff
2
Club to compare Hang-Overs and find
out what hud happened after the Roof
fell In.
Our Hero appeared Just as the Boy
was getting ready to throw a Life
Line. Ho was greeted with a ribald
Shout and told to come running and
Save Himself.
The Moment had arrived for him to
bo a Man. Surrounded by Ice and
Squlrters and Mixing Spoons and
Orange Peel and Jiggers and Jaggers
he drew himself together and made
the Announcement.
For a Moment they were stunned
by the Impact and then every Son of
Peoria leaned back and let out a
Yowl. To think that a real up-to-date
Fellow would pull any of that Old
Stuff! A puny Mortal trying to get a
Toe-Hold on the Demon!
They told him to forget It and quit
his Spoofing and remove his Over
shoes and ease a couple of Gills Into
his Reservoir and try to be a Human
Being, however painful the Effort.
He came back with a few GemB
from tiie Family Medicine Book about
the Effect of the Accursed Stuff on
various Organs. He did not propose
to feed himself anything that would
cut the Varnish off of Wood-Work.
The Hard Stuff had passed out of
his Life.
The Cacklos died away and were
succeeded by 'looks of Blank Dismay.
They saw that one whom they had
long regarded, as a reliable bench
working Union Lush had turned in
nis Card and deliberately made him
self an Outcast
They saw him order Vichy and go
to it as If It were a Beverage and
then they tore up his Credentials and
burned his Photograph and told him
to go out Into the snowy Streets and
find a new Home.
' He sat back and pulled the Grim
Smile which Savonarola wore when
they piled the Fagots around him. He
wan a Martyr and proud of his Job.
By the same Token, there is no Brand
of Rectitude that grades so pure and
spotless as that exhibited by the disin
fected Dove who has not touched a
Drop for nearly 24 hours.
They saw him go home with a
Magazine under his Arm and then
they sat around until all Hours, lap
ping it up and progglng his Finish.
They said he never would last a Week
nnd when he Fell It would be Some
Splash.
They began to Issue daily Bulletins
and watched tha Case with much
Anxiety becausoHhey really liked the
Old Scout in spite of his Eccentrici
ties. When they learned, at the End
of a Week, that he had played Butter
milk to a Standstill all up and down
the Quick Lunch Circuit and was at
his Desk every Morning with his Face
clean and a Flower in his Coat, they
called a Meeting of the Vigilantes and
decided that the Jol had been car
ried far enough.
In tho meantime, Our Hero had
learned two new kinds of Solitaire
and began to call around for a Dish
of Tea with some distant Female Rela
tives who had long supposed him
Dead. Along about the Cocktail Hour
he would find himself sitting first In
one Chair and then In another but he
Cashed big every Morning when he
awoke and found that Henry Katzen
jammer was not sitting on the Foot
Board malting Faces at him.
Only, sometimes he would stop on
a Corner and look all about him and
up at the Buildings and wonder If the
Town had always been as Quiet as at
Present.
After he had stuck for a Fortnight
the desperate Envoys from the Indian
Camp went after him for Keeps. Thcf
held It In front of him and splashed It
on his Clothes and begged him to step
aboard with them and go right up to
the 18th Floor.
Probably If they had let him alone
he would have come sneaking back
into the Reservation to watch the red
Whirligigs and pick a few of those
Night-Blooming Martinis but when
they tried to Stampede him, the old
New England Stock asserted itself, so
he substituted Rivets for Straps.
He 1b now the honored Associate, of
those who play Cribbage In their own
Homes and eat Apples before turning
In. But If you want to get a Line on
his Real Character just ask the Wet
Brothers. They will tell you that he
wasn't there with the Strength of
Character bo he simply sank out of
sight.
MORAL; The Way of tha Ex
Transgressor Is Hard.
Water-Proofing Concrete.
The United States engineers have
long used the following mixture In
water-proofing cement: One part ce
ment, two parts Eand, three-quarters
pounds of dry powdered alum to each
cublo foot of sand. Mix dry and add
Vater in which has been dissolved
three-quarters pound of soap to each
gallon. This Is nearly as strong as
ordinary cement, and la quite imper
vious to water besides preventing ef
florescence. For a wash, a mixture
of one pound of lye and two pounds
alum In two gallons of water is often
used.
THERE Is probably no other city
In Europe that presents such
decided contrasts as Sarajevo,
the Bosnian capltul, In which
Archduke Francis Ferdlnnnd
was assassinated. On the one hand
you have great modern governmental
buildings, substantial, artlntlc, clean
and well-kept, that would do any na
tion proud to possess and that serve to
tell every corner how Austria kept her
word to- govern Bosnia for the very
best of the province. On the other
hund, In the native quarter, you have
bazaars and kavanas; you meet with
latticed harem-balconieB and old,
wallod-ln court yards and fall afoul of
deep-hoodod women and fezzed and
turbuned Mussulmou that take you
back to the days of the Arabian Nights.
It is a strange irony of fate that In
this modern, yet archaic, city the heir
to the Austrian throne should meet his
nemesis.
But even aBide from this recent play
of history Sarajevo is of interest. In
this city of curious contradictories
there exists the queerest department
store In the world. N,ot alone is this
so because every man, woman and
child In the place is compelled to buy
of the great Institution, but also for
the fact that the most modern systems
are intertwined with those of centuries
passed. This great department store,
which is known as the grand bazaar,
1b run on the system of Individual
shopkeepers housed together in one
great building. There are as many as
a dozen shops of certain sorts and com
petition has been overcome by the
strongest kind of unions the trade
guild which sets the price of every
thing and also the minimum to which
bartering will bring It. As a result, in
Sarajevo there are no professional
choppers; for when a Bosnian has
Btated a price he will not and cannot
budge.
The Great Bazaar.
The great bazaar of Sarajevo con
sists of nn intricate labyrinth of lanes.
Boine of them arcaded, so that but a
ft o
strcct Scrc
feeble light falls on the cobbled floor;
others open to the beating sun, and all
lined with open, wooden booths, behind
which are the storehouses for the
wares. The houses themselves are two
stories high, built square and coated
over with plaster externally. The sec-,
ond story is wider than the first, thus
throwing a deceptive gloom on the
goods in the shop. Often the belles of
the shopkeepers' harem live In the
upper story and there are lattices
through which they peer down at the
shopkeepers. In other sections the loft
Is also the storeroom and heavy grat
ings protect It from thieves. In one
section of the gVeat bazaar the houses
which practically form one Immense
dwelling, have the first floor of crude,
sun-dried brick, while in the center
facade of the upper, projecting story
there Is a little latticed balcony to
which ascend the noise and the smells
and, often, the dust of the little Irregu
lar street. In some sections the house
walls are yellow, with a striping of
blue about the windows and doors.
Some of the booths are clean and or
derly. Others are a mass of filth. In
all of them, however, the Turk elts
cross-legged in a corner beside a tall,
silver flagon of cold water smoking the
eternal cigarette. Folks wander by,
but he does not seem to care to attract
their attention. None of these bazaarB
does a land-office business, and yet
they all exist.
One sees the wares at their beet on
Wednesday, when the peasants come
to town and there is more likelihood
of sales. In this great department
store It may be said that everything
under the Balkan sun la for sale. Shops
of every sort are together, .but thinga
which we should sell In one class of
stores will be found with strange com
panions here.
n
'A
F" i-
Bv , , yrom ..;..-- .-.-. xsl... u.f 3
In the very heart of the great bazanr
Is the Mosque of Husruf Bey, One
passes thrct'gh a great wall Into a
court yard of stone, where a fountain
plays that one may wash In for the
prayers or draw free drinking water,
for elsewhere In Bosnia water is not
free, but is sold. Beyond the fountain a
tree throws Its shade and in the
shadow stands the tomb of the founder
of the mosque. Good shoppers are a
pious folk, and they will drop in here
to offor prayer, while on their way
through the bazaar. 1
The Interior is almost identical with
that of a mosque, the walls eloping up
to the domo, with countless jilehes,
decorated with geometrical designs In
blue and white, for the Koran forbids
the picturing of things animate An
elegant rug graces the floor und In the
center of this stands the sarcophagus
itself, hewn of marble and covered
over with a green canopy, heavily
worked In gold. At one end of the
tomb Immense candles etand, illumi
nating a turban of stone on a pedestal
close by, the turban indicating the
grave of a man. At one Bide of the
tomb, a little settee Is placed, that the
weary shopper may sit In prayer, rest
ing his eyes on a great glass case on
the opposite wall, In which a green
prayer-cloth from Mecca now hangs.
The Coffee Houses.
Among the bazaars are the kavanas,
or Turkish cafe houses. For the poor.
In the center of the bazaar, there has
been opened a Wakf, a Turkish char
ity, where the poor receive their coffee
free. Others, however, take their bev
erage in the regular cafes. In the
smaller of these the coffee beans are
placed In a tlny brass mill, of the
thickness of a pump handle, the lower
half of" which unscrews to emit the
pulverized grain, while In the larger
establishments the beans are pounded
in a stono mortar, with great iron pes
tles, and then worked through a circu
lar sieve, that only the finest may be
used. This powder is then placed In
brass pitchers, upon which hot water
; i4 I5
in Sarajevo
is played, until the mass is practically
dissolved, when a small flagon of the
deep, dark liquor is presented the
guest.
These are just a few vignettes of the
common life of Sarajevo. Military re
views, with cohorts of proud Austrian
soldiery; simple peasant fetes, with
their Kola dances on some green, shop
ping among the stores, the peer of any
In Europe to have one's purchases
brought home by muleteer, as were
wares in the holy land in the days of
the Savior, medley of color; the noises
of the criers, the quiet of the residen
tial streets and harems all these go to
make of the Bosnian capital one of the
unique spots of all the near East.
For "Summer Bachelors."
An Ingenious man in Washington,
whose wife has gone to the country, 1b
responsible for the inauguration of a
new dish which Is not only a novelty
to the palate, but which can be pre
pared at stag parties without being
spoiled before it is ready to serve. It
is a modification of the old Mexican
frijole, which la the southern equiva
lentIn a gaudy sense of the North
American baked bean. It can be pre
pared In a chafing dish.
His recipe is as follows;
A green pepper is cut "into small
bits, a half-pound of American, cream
cheese and a can of ordinary -kidney
beans are put in the chafing dish over
a slow fire and allowed to cook until
the cheese and the extract from the
beans have mingled thoroughly.
"It Is impossible," said this "sum
mer bachelor," to go wrong on this
dish. It is Impossible to burn the In
gredients unless the beat from the-
thafing-dish fire becomes too great
and I have yet to see a chafing dist
when the fire got too hot."