Show WHY Species of Birds Should Not e Persecuted Owls as a group have long been persecuted by man but never noer has a persecution been more unjust says the biological survey of the United States Department of at Agriculture which recently determined what barn 11 owls had for dinner Hero llero Is the lie menu Meadow mire mice 1110 1119 house mice 4 2 house rats other small amaH mammals als three per Iler owl The servI service service I ice ico done man by the barn owl the Survey booklet says sas Is typical of that performed 1 b by hawks and ancI owls in gen gen- eral Au An occasional chicken Is consumed con but this loss is fur far outweighed outweigh outweigh- i ed cd b by the destruction of harmful ro ro- dents The sparrow says the Survey should not be regarded 1 as a pest The single exception to the Indorsement Is the time pesky English sparrow of that species usually a u nuisance and nod often injurious says sas the booklet Farm Help From Irom the Birds The English sparrow is but one member of the lie large family of ot sparrows and find Its habits lab hab its are ale b by no means characteristic of oC the native species The They arc are essentially seed eaters the sparrows but they consume also a fair fall proportion of Insects the department department department depart depart- ment finds and in general must be he regarded 1 as beneficial Separating the sheep from feoni time the goals goats in the feathered king kingdom of common knowledge to the farmer the department places among tile lite bad bull birds the thc Jays crows ravens and blackbirds a corporals corporal's guard compared with the army of good birds who aid the tine farmer Even the bad denizens of the a air aim It have some goo good 1 in them S1 says R the department and the damage the they do the farmer Is largely because of t o over population In the Ume feathered ranks Of that lint class the department says It would seem a good policy to accord them the same mine treatment long given ghen the common crow The crow Is not specially persecuted neither is It protected 1 About hout the best that can be said of birds of this family is that on onlie the lie avern average e they do about as much good as ns harm |