farther south, except when compelled to 

 on account of snow and ice. 



We now come to the two smallest species 

 of owls found in Manitoba. 



Richardson's Owl (Nye tola tengmalmi 

 Richardsoni ), and the Saw Whet Owl 

 (Nyctala Acadica.) 



Both these birds are resident practically 

 wherever found, Richardson's owl bemg 

 possibly the most secluded of the two. Both 

 are nocturnal, and in daylight, with slight 

 precaution, may be caught in the hands. I 

 have found mice an absolute necessity to 

 keep them alive, consequently these must 

 form the greater portion of their diet.. 

 Certainly neither of them are large or fer- 

 ocious enough to do much damage to poul- 

 try. The records for the Saw Whet Owl 

 are in 19 full stomachs, one contained a 

 small bird's remains, 17 mice and one in- 

 sectj 



Lastly, I refer to a species not previously 

 recorded for Manitoba, but which is now 

 becoming numerous in many localities, 

 namely, the Burrowing Owl (Spcotyto 

 cunicularia hypogaea), of which we have all 

 heard more or less in connection with his 

 supposed association with the prairie dogs 

 and rattlesnakes. The truth of this is that 

 the little owl drives out the gophers and 

 prairie dogs and appropriates the burrow 

 for his own home, and the finding of the 

 rattlesnakes in the same locality is no proof 

 of their living with the owls. Dr. 

 Coues, who first upset the story of the 

 harmonious association of the three forms, 

 says the owl is a match for both old prairie 

 dogs and rattlesnakes, living largely upon 

 the young dogs. They are peculiar look- 

 ing little birds, with their long, slender 

 featherless legs, so different from all other 

 owls, which makes them look somewhat 

 top-heavy. Capt. Bendire, in his life his- 

 tories, relates an experience in feeding two 

 specimens in captivity, in which the owls 

 killed with ease, and devoured with equal 

 ease, four Townsend's ground squirrels, 

 animals considerably larger than the birds, 

 in one day. Every day of their captivitv 

 they eat more than their own weight, which 

 will give a slight idea of what a growing 

 brood will require, and as the food is al- 

 most entirely vermin, they are extremely 

 beneficial agents and deserving of the full- 

 est protection. Their advent into Mani- 

 toba can therefore be looked upon with 

 favor, more especially on account of their 

 fondness for gojahers, and among them the 

 pocket gooher, which tunnels so much un- 

 der ground, heaving uo heaps of earth and 

 doing great injury to growing crops. This 

 aniiTial works mostly at night, and th° bur- 

 rowing owl i'5 the best adapted soecies ^-o 

 act as constable and intercept him at his 



work, arrest him, judge and condemn, and 

 finally dispose of him to the owl's satisfac- 

 tion. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Having collected together the foregoing 

 facts relative to the economic relations of 

 Uie individual species of the birds of prey, 

 let us now briefiy review them, and see 

 what conclusions may be drawn from them. 

 in the first place, we have three species 

 proven absolutely beneficial, with no re- 

 cords of destruction of either poultry or 

 game birds. 



In the second group we have six hawks 

 and eleven owls, mostly beneficial, which 

 average only 16 1-3 per cent, injurious, and 

 from this small percentage we must deduct 

 12 per cent, for the small birds taken, 

 whose economic value is doubtful, because 

 we have no knowledge of the species, which 

 leaves a grand total of 4 1-3 per cent, of 17 

 com,mon species of birds of prey injurious 

 to poultry and game combined, while the 

 remaining 82 2-3 per cent, are entirely ben- 

 eficial in their destruction of agricultural 

 enemies. Is it justice to slaughter 84 in- 

 nocent birds because four in the hundred 

 fancy poultry or game? On the contrary, 

 it is very unjust, and themore so when we 

 consider that these 84 innocents have been 

 diligently working in our interests and 

 yearly saving us many times the value of 

 all the poultry we own. 



Reviewing the records of the harmful 

 group, what do we find ? Five species are 

 credited with doing the damage for which 

 the other 23 species suffer. The question 

 now is, what is the injury they do? The 

 average injury of these amounts to only 

 25 per cent, to poultry and game, while an 

 equal percentage is proven to be beneficial, 

 the remaining 50 per centage being de- 

 structive to smaller birds. Now, it has 

 been shown that the Peregrine falcon sel- 

 dom visits the farm-yard, but follows the 

 game, which will greatly reduce his injur- 

 iotis effects upon poultry. It has also been 

 shown that the three species most injur- 

 ious to smallbirds are most so to two pests, 

 the English sparrow and the blackbird, and 

 for this reason we can reduce their injur- 

 ious qualities in this respect at least one- 

 half. Consequently, we have at least 50 

 oer cent, of the most harmful hawks direct- 

 ly beneficial to agricultural interests, while 

 only 25 per cent, are injurious to poultry 

 and game combined, and the remaining 25 

 per cent, to birds of doubtful economic 

 value. 



From these conclusions, I think it otily 

 i'lstice to the interests of our country that 

 the birds of prey should be included in the 

 Act for the protection of birds beneficial to 

 asfricidture. 



