530 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



age la Prairie; 1884; abundant; summer resident; first appearance in 

 1884, April 10; frequenting the open prairie and breeding in conspicu- 

 ous places, usually in a small tree standing among low scrub (Nash). 

 Carberry: Very abundant; summer resident; breeds perhaps twice each 

 season ; arrives middle of April, departs middle of October ; near Bran- 

 don, Long River; near Turtle Mountain; in prairie region (Thompson). 

 Two Rivers: 1885, first seen, one, on March 11 ; next seen, one, March 

 14; j)retty common and breeds here (Criddle). Dal ton : 1889, first seen, 

 two, on March 22; next seen on March 23; is common, and breeds here 

 (Youmans). Shell River: 1885, first seen, two, on April ; afterwards 

 seen nearly every day; it is common all summer and breeds here (Cal- 

 cutt). Abundant on the prairies along our route (Macoun). White 

 Sand River; May 4, 1884 (Christy). 



Several times I have been guided to a hawk's nest by the old ones 

 themselves, who, in their tremor of anxiety for their young, have flown 

 half a mile or more to meet me, circling high above me and uttering 

 those long piercing screams, with an intonation of distress that was 

 unmistakable. On one occasion, while trapping Gray Gophers (<S)?er- 

 mophilus richardsoni) at a teeming colony of this rodent, a hawk flew 

 repeatedly over me and back and forth between me and an adjoining 

 wooded slough. At first, I supposed I was trespassing on his hunting 

 ground, especially" when presently I saw him catch a gopher, and with 

 it sail away so directly towards the trees tliat the inference of his 

 nest being there was too palpable to be mistaken ; I therefore followed 

 him, and after a brief search discovered the nest in a low, dead i)oplar 

 tree. Both old ones were screaming overhead, so that it was with cer- 

 tainty of a prize that I proceeded to climb the tree. As soon as my 

 head appeared on the level of the nest, one of the three young ones 

 escaped, a second could barely fly, yet it swooped out aslant into the 

 scrub, 20 yards away. The third could not fly at all. Thus it seemed 

 that they were of different ages. The nest contained one gopher. The 

 two young birds were secured with little trouble; at first, the only de- 

 fense they made was gaping silently, with feathers bristling and wings 

 spread forward; but on my trying to tie their feet. No. 3 seized a fore- 

 finger in each claw and so held them till the blood trickled from two 

 or three places ; he only let go his hold when I spread his legs and 

 brought my knee to bear on his breast. 



Meanwhile the old ones were careering overhead, and on the back of 

 the lowest was a kingbird, whose silent diligence and energetic applica- 

 tion to the task cf plucking the hawk was most amusing. He took 

 several rides of over a hundred yards, and ultimately the hawk ap- 

 proached so near to me that she fell to a charge from the gun. This 

 proved to be the mother. Her gizzard contained a Striped Gopher and 

 part of a quaily ; the rest of the quaily was in her throat, with one foot 

 in her mouth ; so full was she that I wondered how she was able to 

 scream so much. 



