The Pigeon in Manitoba 197 



Mr. Charles A. Boultbee of Macgregor, Man., re- 

 plies as follows : 



"I have resided in Manitoba since 1872, and have 

 taken pigeons as far north as Fort Pelly in the fall of 

 1874, but know nothing of them previously. In our 

 district they usually made their appearance in the fall 

 and fed upon the grain. They continued fairly numer- 

 ous until about 1882, at which time we had to drive 

 them from the grain stocks, but they then disappeared 

 and only stragglers have been noted since." 



There is no doubt that many other reports could have 

 been secured, but, as all seem to tend toward the one 

 conclusion, I shall save time and space by summarizing 

 the information at hand. 



Some months ago I made a statement in an article, 

 written for local interest, to the effect that Manitoba 

 had never been the home of the wild pigeon. By this 

 I meant that, because of unfavorable breeding and feed- 

 ing conditions within the province, only the smallest 

 percentage of the enormous flocks recorded for the 

 south and east could possibly exist here. The records 

 here collected support me in this contention so far as 

 that portion of the province west of the Red River is 

 concerned, but the record of Sir John Richardson tends 

 to show that favorable conditions must have existed im- 

 mediately south of Lake Winnipeg, through what he 

 calls a low-lying district, and where we can assume that 

 the cranberry and blueberry were abundant, as they 



