134 



The Canadl\n Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXV 



Tlie Ferruginous Roiigli-leg is probably 

 the most useful of all our buzzards, its 

 food being made up almost entirely of 

 rodents, of Avhich by far the greater pro- 

 portion consist of gophers. I have re- 

 peatedly seen it carrying off thosr animals 

 and have found nests inhabited by young 

 coiitaining ,sevenal untouched examples. 

 It is abnost certain that these hawks de- 

 stroy far more than they can consume 

 when food is abundant, and for this rea- 

 son a family of these birds might well be 

 estimated to account for a thousand 

 gophers in the course of a season, which, 

 supposing these latter to have been taken 

 from a grain field, would be equal to a 

 saving of five hundred bushels of grain. 



This hawk should be better known 

 among the farming community and as a 

 step in that direction I would propose 

 that we discard the cumbersome name that 

 is at present attached to it and caU it Rusty 

 Hawk instead. 



Burrowing Owl. 



This owl has previously been recorded 

 by Mr. Atkinson in the above mentioned 

 publication, and by me in the Oitawa Nat- 

 uralist. It has always been considered 

 a rarity, however, and for that reason ad- 

 ditional records of the bird 's occurrence 

 are desirable. 



During the last three years I have had 

 occasion to travel rather extensively over 

 the western portion of the province, and 

 as a result have run across several breed- 

 ing pairs of this species. No less than 

 three families were observed near Souris, 

 another was noted near Melita, while odd 

 individuals were seen at Pierson, Napinka 

 and Virden. I have usually found this 

 owl in the vicinity of badger holes with 

 burrows of the prairie gopher (C. richard- 

 soni) close around. It piobably nests in 

 the former excavations and doubtless uses 

 the gophers as food. 



Arkansas Kingbird. 



Whether this bird was overlooked in 

 former days or has extended its range 

 northward within recent times ia a ques- 

 tion I am not prepared to answer, but it 

 is now found quite commonly in the south- 

 west portion of the province, where it 

 shows a marked preference for human 

 habitations. Nearly every village now 



nas its pair of breeding birds, and the 

 larger places often contain three or four. 

 Trees around the farm yards are also fre- 

 <iuently utilized, and the somewhat quar- 

 relsome notes of the bird are among the 

 first to attract one in the early morning. 

 I have observed this species breeding near 

 Winnipeg, and from there westward, along 

 the C.P.R. main line at Carberry, Oaklake 

 and Virden. It is most commonly met 

 with, however, in the south-west portion 

 of the province within a line dra^wn from 

 Mawbray to Kirkella. 



Black-headed Grosbeak. 



On the 30th of May, 1919, I was busy 

 in the laboratory with insect work but with 

 ears on the alert for the notes of any newly 

 arriving bird. The work was interesting, 

 and for that reason I had been but half 

 conscious of an unusual song uttered rather 

 continuously from some nearby trees. I 

 had passed it as being an attempt of a Cat- 

 bird to mimic the combined efforts of a 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak and House Spar- 

 row, but eventually awakening to the im- 

 probability of this I decided upon a closer 

 investigation and easily obtained a close 

 view of the songster which was perched 

 upon an oak. There could be no mis- 

 take under such close scrutiny. A heavy 

 beak, the bright brown of a Towhee, white 

 on the wings and tail and a black head. 

 All were plainly visible. Knowing, how- 

 ever, that a dead bird is demanded by exact 

 science I hesitated whether to go for a 

 gun, but what is a dead bird in compari- 

 son with a living one which gives promise 

 of breeding where its kind have not pre- 

 viously been known? To me the evi- 

 dence was complete, but for the sake of 

 corroboration, I called my brothers Stuart 

 and Talbot to view and note the more 

 striking features, which they did, while the 

 bird sang on unconcernedly, 



I had hoped that this visitor would have 

 a mate and that they would make their 

 home amid the woods close by, but he van- 

 ished the same evening and I saw and 

 heard him no more. 



The cause of this bird's having moved 

 beyond its usual range may have been due 

 to abnormally warm weather combined 

 with a succession of south winds. On the 

 other hand, it is possible that the species 

 really does breed in the extreme southern 

 portion of the province as the song, though 



