° 'i9is J General Notes. 239 



four were in grass between stubble fields and roads, and only one was on 

 the prairie. 



It is a common practice in Saskatchewan to burn off the stubble. This is 

 usually accomplished in the following way: A section of a harrow is dragged 

 about six feet behind a hay or grain rack loaded with straw; a day with a 

 strong wind is selected as soon as the stubble is dry enough to burn freely; 

 one man drives the team slowly along the windward side of the field while 

 another pitches straw onto the fire which is built on the harrow and thus 

 keeps it burning. The stubble catches fire readily and whole sections may 

 be burned over in this manner in a few hours. The usual time for burning 

 over the land is after the first week in May, since before then the stubble 

 is not dry enough. Many nests are destroyed in this way. I found the 

 remains of three duck nests and one Marsh Hawk nest in one burned field. 

 On June 9 I flushed a Mallard from a burned field and on investigation 

 found a much charred nest containing seven smoky eggs all of which were 

 rotten, and yet that poor bird had been incubating those eggs for two weeks 

 since the fire had spoiled them. The straw stacks are also burned at this 

 time. A neighbor was engaged in this work one day, May 24, when he 

 noticed a 'Prairie Eagle' [Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk] rise and circle 

 around the straw stack he was about to ignite. He climbed to the top 

 of the stack and there found the nest containing five beautifully marked 

 eggs, which he collected and gave to me before burning the straw. As 

 these stacks are very common, in fact they are about the only thing that 

 breaks the horizon, it is probable that many nests are burned with them 

 each spring. 



When the stubble is not burned, the fields are usually disked, although 

 sometimes the wheat or oats is drilled right into the stubble without any 

 earlier preparation of the soil. In this way the nests are disturbed by the 

 blades of the disks and drills. Some farmers give their men strict orders 

 to lift the drills or to drive around the nests whenever possible. If the 

 birds happen to be on their nests it is an easy matter to locate them for 

 they usually flush just in front of the horses. I remember twice that the 

 horses had walked over brooding ducks which did not fly up until the disks 

 were about to roll over them. In a case of this sort and also when the 

 birds are not setting, it is practically impossible to see the nests in time to 

 save them. I recollect three nests which were seen barely in time to save 

 them. The first was a Sharp-tailed Grouse which flushed from her nest 

 and fourteen eggs just beside the horses. By the time the horses were 

 stopped the wheel of the drill was within a few inches of the nest and another 

 step would have ruined it. The other two were those of a Desert Horned 

 Lark and of a Killdeer which were similarly discovered when one more 

 furrow by the plow would have turned them under. Occasionally ducks 

 build their nests in sunken spots so that disk-harrows and drills may run 

 over them without damaging the eggs. One nest was run over successively 

 by a disk, a scrub or drag, a drill, and a team of six horses, but miraculously 

 escaped without having even an egg cracked. This bird continued to 

 incubate despite all the interruptions. 



