THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON. 125 



especial interest. He writes me under date of May 5: "I have camped for the 

 past montli in Ramsey's Canon, which is the most heavily wrx^led one in this 

 locality, situated in about the. center of the lluachuca i\Iountains. About a 

 quarter of the way up, close to the main trail, at an elevation of about 6,000 

 feet, is a swamjiy spring, around which several acres of A\ild nuilberry trees 

 and bushes grow. I camped close to this place, and Pigeons were always 

 about in abundance. Probably sixty pairs visited or staid about this spring 

 at all times. 



"I shot a number of these birds for food, and one dav on aj)proaching 

 one sitting on a spruce bough, abont 10 feet up, and unt being able to start 

 it from its perch for a wing .shot, I put a 'hummer load' in my gun, ami 

 l)rought it down in rather a mutilated condition, as I was not over (i feet oif. 

 It proved to be a female, and much to my surprise I found that the dust 

 shot had smashed an egg, which I found endiedded in the feathers of her 

 belly. As I could find no sign of a nest on the limb on which she had 

 been sitting, and the egg was entirely surrounded with feathers, I concluded 

 she must carry it around with her. This was on March 30, and the egg was 

 fresh. 



"During the month of April, being very busy with other matters, I gave 

 only a day or two to searching for the nests, and was not successful in find- 

 ing any. On April 14, I killed a few young, about a month old, and an 

 adult female with an egg in her ovary, about one-third size. On May 3, I 

 made another trial, and during a hard day's hunt I found five nests, each con- 

 taining a single well-incubated egg. These nests were all found in spruce 

 pines, from 15 to 70 feet up, and were constructed simply of a few small 

 twigs laid across a limb. Next day I found four more nests; one in an oak, 

 12 feet up, containing a squab about a week old; another in a mulberry, about 

 8 feet from the ground, with a fresh egg, and two others in spruce pines. On 

 approaching one of these trees the female flew off heavily, and seemed to be 

 trying to balance herself on a limb of a tree, far down below, ^yhen 1 climbed 

 to the nest I found no egg in it, and ani almost certain she carried it off 

 with her. I also allowed the female to fly off from the next nest, and like- 

 wise found it without an es:"'. Wishing to test the matter, I afterward shot 

 several females on the nest. In one case one dropped to the ground, and with 

 her came the eg":, breaking: and spreading egS fmd shell among the feathers of 

 the belly." 



In some later notes sent, Mr. Poling says: "Since writing to }'0U in regard 

 to the Band-tailed Pigeon, on May 5, I have taken over a dozen eggs, which 

 show my previous experiences to be excppt'wm to the rule, or else are due to 

 difference in season or locality. As far as my knowledge now extends, I am 

 somewhat puzzled in regard to these birds. The fact of their nesting at all 

 seasons, without any regularity, seems to be well established, as I have taken 

 young, two or three months old, in February; and since that tinie young and 

 eggs enough to show that they lay and nest from December to August, my 



