BAND-TAILED PIGEON 583 



Nest building was carried on only in the early morning hours, from sunrise 

 till about 8 o 'clock. Both birds were present, but the female alone seemed to be 

 engaged in the actual construction of the nest, which she went about in a very 

 lackadaisical manner. The pair would sit together on the few sticks already in 

 place for many minutes ; at last the female seemed to remember that she was 

 nest building, and flew up the mountain side followed by the male. Considerable 

 time was spent on every trip after material, so very few sticks were added each 

 day, and it was not until six days had elapsed that the flimsy platform was com- 

 pleted and the egg laid. 



The birds are close sitters, often flushing when the observer is 

 very near to the nest. However, when once alarmed, they usually 

 leave precipitately, and make off through the trees so swiftly as to 

 be quickly lost to sight. This abrupt flushing of the bird from the 

 nest often leads to discovery of the latter when its location would be 

 otherwise extremely difficult to determine, so closely do the twigs 

 composing the structure resemble the smaller branches of the tree in 

 which it is situated. Only in a few instances have birds been known 

 to linger in the vicinity of the nest, or to attempt to lead the intruder 

 away. 



Two California reports of a definite nature give two eggs as the 

 nest complement; all others specify but a single egg each (see table). 

 Bendire (1892. p. 127) states that the period of incubation is eighteen 

 to twenty days, and that the young birds remain in the nest about 

 a month after hatching. Allowing a week for the construction of the 

 nest, and for laying, about two months time would be necessary for the 

 rearing of one brood. There is no reliable evidence that the pigeon 

 nests more than once each year in California, save when its first nest- 

 ing is disturbed. In one recorded instance (Sharp, 1903, p. 16) a 

 nest from which an incubated egg had been collected on May 11, 

 contained, on June 24 of the same year (1902), another egg also well 

 advanced in incubation. It is probable that the later nesting dates 

 given in our table refer to instances where the first egg was destroyed, 

 and not to instances of a second successful nesting. 



In rate of increase, the Band-tailed Pigeon is. according to the 

 evidence herewdtli submitted, by far the slowest of all our game birds. 

 As a rule but one young is hatched each year. Contrast this with ten 

 among quail, eight among ducks, and four among wading birds. 

 The impressive fact that our wild pigeon does not exceed, in rate 

 of reproduction, the birthrate of deer, antelope and elk, suggests the 

 demand for treatment in game legislation corresponding with that 

 given these large mammals. It is very probable that under primitive 

 conditions the Band-tailed Pigeon was ten times more immune from the 

 fatalities due to predacious animals, and to causes other than old 

 age, than is the quail! 



