366 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



ceous kinds ; they are beyond our control. With many of the 

 larger locust enemies, however, as in the case of birds, it is feasi- 

 ble. One of the most effectual ways of accomplishing it is to 

 offer a reward for hawk-heads, as Colorado has done. The intro- 

 duction of such hardy locust-feeding birds as the grackle and the 

 English rook may be attended with benefit, and the Commission 

 of which I am a member, will try the experiment. The destruc- 

 tion of the eggs is of the utmost importance. 



The experience of the present year has proved, what I have 

 always insisted on, that in the more thickly-settled portions of 

 the country, by proper organization and intelligent effort, man 

 may master the young insects. Men of large experience admit 

 that a crop of young insects is not more difficult to cope with 

 than a crop of weeds. It is different with the winged insect, 

 and the question is: " Can anything be done to protect our 

 farmers from the disastrous flying swarms? " At first view it 

 would seem hopeless. Yet there is already a partial answer to 

 the question. There is a popular notion that this pest breeds in 

 and comes from sandy, desert countries. It is a popular error. 

 The insect cannot live on sand, nor does it willingly oviposit in 

 a loose, sandy soil. It does not thrive on caeti and sage bush. 

 It flourishes most on land clothed with grass, in which, when 

 young, it can huddle and shelter. It can multiply prodigiously 

 on those plains only that offer a tolerably rich vegetation, — not 

 rank and humid as in Illinois, but short and dry, — such as is 

 found over much of the plains region of the Northwest, already 

 referred to. Now the destruction of the eggs, which is so prac- 

 ticable and effectual in settled and cultivated sections, is out of the 

 question in those vast unsettled prairies; but the destruction of 

 the young locusts is possible. Those immense prairies are not 

 only susceptible of easy burning, but it is difficult to prevent the 

 fire from sweeping over them. Now some system of preventing 

 the extensive prairie fires that are eommon in that country in fall, 

 and then subsequently firing the prairie in the spring, after the 

 bulk of the young hatch, and before the new grass gets too rank, 

 would be of untold value if it could be adopted. At first blush 

 such a proposition seems Utopian, but the more I study the ques- 

 tion, and the more I learn of these breeding grounds, the more 

 feasible the plan grows to my mind: The Dominion Government 

 has, fortunately, a well-organized mounted police force which con- 

 stantly patrols through the very regions where the insects breed,. 



