The Hawks of the Canadian Prairie Provinces 

 in Their Relation to Agriculture. 



BY P. A. TAVERNER. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



The hawks have long been regarded as pariahs among birds and 

 have been killed whenever occasion offered. Poultry -men and game 

 conservators have been especially bitter in their persecution of them. 

 Legislatures have not only refrained from protecting these birds, 

 but in some cases, have placed bounties on their heads. The results 

 have not always been satisfactory and when ailing game which would 

 have been destroyed by the hawks have transmitted their diseases to 

 healthy birds, or rodents or other vermin have increased to plague 

 numbers, we have often had cause to regret hasty action. To-day, 

 when the whole world is straining every nerve to increase the food supply, 

 the status of these birds becomes of even more pressing importance than 

 formerly and it is necessary that their economic effect be scrutinized 

 carefully. 



An investigation was made by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture in 1893 and the results embodied in Bulletin No. 3, "The 

 Hawks and Owls in the United States in their relations to agriculture." 

 The examination of some 2,690 stomachs proved that though a few species 

 could be thoroughly condemned, the majority did enough good to 

 counteract the evil they did, and others were altogether beneficial. 

 Since that time much additional information has been gathered which 

 substantiates all the conclusions then drawn. Season and locality 

 enter largely into the subject; a species may be harmful at one season 

 or in one place and beneficial at other times or places where conditions 

 are dissimilar, where other food is available, or other interests are at 

 stake. Considering the great number of hawks that range the prairie 

 provinces and the large interests at stake it seems desirable to point 

 out clearly the economic status of these important species. 



In the prairie provinces of Canada there are some sixteen species 

 of Hawks and two Eagles. Some of these are of too rare occurrence 

 to require more than passing notice, but others are common enough 

 to have important economic influence. The hawks can be divided 

 into seven groups, each having common characters that aid in its 

 recognition and reflect its habits: (1) Vultures or carrion eaters; 

 (2) Harriers or marsh and meadow haunters; (3) Accipiters, round- 



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