HAWKS OP THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE PROVINCES. 13 



fleas and ticks which are carried by these animals. They not only carry 

 the infected insects from place to place but taking the disease themselves 

 become thereby foci of infection to both cattle and their owners. The 

 gopher question is, therefore, a serious one. 



Another pest of the prairie provinces is the coyote which is not 

 only a confirmed chicken killer but a serious menace to sheep raisers. 

 In nearly all the provinces bounties are placed upon its head and one of 

 the sources of income to many prairie dwellers is the bounty and pelt 

 values obtained in reducing its numbers. The natural food of the 

 coyote is gophers and rabbits and any marked reduction in coyote 

 numbers is bound to be reflected in an increase in the number of both 

 these pests. If, therefore, the coyote is exterminated the history of 

 farming in the mid-west will be a constant struggle against an increasing 

 number of gophers unless some other means is found of controlling them. 

 Poisoning when thoroughly done is effectual, but as long as a pair of 

 gophers remain it is only a matter of a few years before they become as 

 numerous as ever. 



The hawks, especially the large summer buteos, seem to be the 

 natural substitutes for the coyotes. Being migrating they are present 

 in the southern prairie provinces only in gopher season and show a 

 marked preference for these animals as food. It must not be supposed 

 that hawks can ever entirely exterminate their prey. However, hawks 

 can largely take the place of the eliminated coyote and assist in the 

 control of the pest. They have advantages over human efforts of trap 

 and poison: they are always on the job, they cost practically nothing, 

 they attend to wastes that are sources of infection to cultivated land, and 

 they go automatically where the food is most plentiful and the need for 

 them is greatest. The effect of the noxious hawks upon the prairie 

 chicken and grouse is an indication of what a decided assistance such 

 aids can be when their efforts are beneficial. 



The gopher question is a serious one, but the importance of grouse 

 and game should not be overlooked. Though game should not be 

 regarded primarily as a source of food, that use of it should be considered 

 as well as its more legitimate use as a source of healthful sport and 

 recreation. The income derived by dealers, guides, the state, and 

 caterers to the sportsmen, is considerable and not to be disregarded. 

 For every reason the stock of game should be so conserved as to yield 

 its greatest economic usefulness to the country. 



However strict we can be in our game laws we cannot keep the 

 grouse steadily up to their maximum numbers when subject to these 

 periodic invasions of birds of prey from the north. Unfortunately, 

 when these birds come down the gophers are holed up for the winter, 

 otherwise we might hail the intruders as mixed evils, for it seems that 



