1915] The Ottawa Naturalist. 97 



other birds remained in the nest in company with two striped 

 gophers, one being partly devoured. Pellets around the tree 

 showed much gopher hair and some broken bones, but no in- 

 dication of birds. It seems strange that this pair of hawks fed 

 their young mostly upon striped gophers, while those of No. 2 

 preferred gray ones; doubtless situation had something to do 

 with this, though both kinds of gophers were within reach. An- 

 other nest I had not previously visited was located in an aspen 

 poplar, in an opening among the lower trees. There was a single 

 hawk in the nest which immediately flew on my approach and 

 disappeared in the distance. In this case the parent birds, as 

 is customary, had been shrieking overhead while I was yet more 

 than a mile away, and had even attacked me in the usual timid 

 manner. As a matter of fact it was their own stupidity that 

 led me to the nest, which but for their efforts I shotdd never 

 have found. Pellets in this instance were absent, consequently 

 I could learn nothing of the birds' food habits. 



To those unacquainted with the fauna of Manitoba the ques- 

 tion might arise, how do these hawks manage to defend them- 

 selves while nesting on the ground, particularly txpon a hill 

 which is so frequently used as a vantage spot by coyotes. Is it 

 that hawks make but poor eating, or do the coyotes, badgers, 

 etc., fear those formidable claws? I do not know, but suspect 

 the latter is more probably correct. 



It is a very great pity that lack of knowledge regarding the 

 usefulness of these hawks has caused them to be so severely 

 persecuted. We are all of us aware in the west what a large toll 

 gophers take of our crops, yet strange to relate, we seem to have 

 done our best to propagate them by destroying the hawks and 

 weasels, which are their natural enemies. 



FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ENTOMO- 

 LOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



This meeting will long be remembered by those present as 

 an extremely successful gathering, at which 'members convened 

 from both ends of the Dominion, to meet their fellow workers 

 at the Capital. The meetings of this Society have long been 

 known for their successful programmes, but if we are to believe 

 those competent to judge, the gatherings on the 4th and 5th of 

 November last excelled ia this respect any previous conventions, 

 and in point of value to agriculture, were to Canada equally as 

 profitable as the meetings of the Association of Economic En- 

 tomologists are to the United States. 



