WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 345 



food, and its mother circled around it trying to win it 

 with piteous cries to take wing and fly with her away 

 from this threatening danger." 



He might have added that it was not the sportsman 

 who spread the nets and sewed the eyelids of the 

 stool-pigeons with silken threads, so they would per- 

 form to his liking when tolling their kind to destruc- 

 tion. It was not the sportsman who shipped the birds 

 in barrels to the market, or in crates to the shooting- 

 matches. 



THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON. 



The band-tailed pigeon is a Western bird, and is 

 found only west of the Rocky Mountains in the United 

 States. It is a very common bird in the woods of Ore- 

 gon and California, where it feeds largely on acorns. 

 It affords considerable sport to the gunners on the 

 Pacific Coast. It is a large, fine bird, excellent as 

 food, and flies rapidly, arising from the ground with a 

 loud flapping noise like tame pigeons. It goes to the 

 stubble fields for grain, and may be shot as it flies in 

 and out of the fields. The flocks are often large, con- 

 taining hundreds of birds. When not much shot they 

 are not very wild, but, like other game, they are quick 

 to learn, and soon become extremely wary and difficult 

 to approach. 



Dr. Suckly says the Indian name of this pigeon is 

 hubboh — a good imitation of its call — and that he pre- 

 fers it to the pigeon of the Eastern States. 



Dr. Coues found this pigeon in Arizona, but says it 

 is not abundant there. 



