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Volume XX May-June, 1918 Number 3 



THE SHORT-EARED OWL IN SASKATCHEWAN 



By WALTER A. GOELITZ 

 WITH ONE PHOTO 



DURING the summer of 1917 I spent six weeks, from May 1 to June 13, six- 

 teen miles south of Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, working on a 

 1200-acre grain farm. In that region the land is very flat with not a tree 

 or bush to break the horizon. The only irregularities to be seen upon the smooth 

 prairie are the houses, located usually a mile or more apart, and the numerous 

 large straw piles. Most of the land is now under cultivation, but scattered 

 about are still some tracts of virgin prairie in lots of from a half section to 

 two sections in extent. During the first half of my stay the soil was still wet 

 and swampy from the melted snow, and the lower sections and shallow draws 

 were covered with vast sheets of water, sometimes covering thousands of acres. 

 Evaporation went on rather quickly because of the brisk winds which blew the 

 greater part of the time. 



I had very little time to scout after birds and nests, since my work began 

 at 4:00 a. m. and lasted until from 7:30 to 9:00 p. m. ; but on account of the 

 long daylight hours I was able to spend a short time looking for nests in the 

 evening, and of course on Sundays. Even so, the greater number of my finds 

 were made while at work in the fields. 



Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) were much in evidence, both upon the 

 prairie and in the fields of wheat and oat stubble. If flushed during a bright 

 day they would invariably flap away a few rods and then come back to settle 

 near the place from which they started. On dark or cloudy days they would 

 fly about for a longer time and even would hunt for food under such condi- 

 tions. I remember watching an owl one day follow a dog about in a marshy 

 part of a stubble field for nearly an hour. It did not have a nest in the vicin- 

 ity, so the action need not have been a result of protective instincts. There is 

 the possibility of it being simply curiosity, and again it may be that the owl 



