The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



VOL XXXVI 



OTTAWA, ONT., JANUARY, 1922. 



No. 1 



THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



By J. A. MuNRO, Okanagan Landing, British Columbia. 



The Band-tailed Pigeon has achieved celebrity 

 through its relationship with the extinct Passenger 

 Pigeon. Together with the Mourning Dove, it 

 shares the distinction of being the only Canadian 

 kin of their illustrious connection and the periodic 

 newspaper stories of Passenger Pigeons surviving 

 in the West have always been traced to one of 

 these species. In reality the Band-tailed Pigeon 

 has little resemblance to the extinct species 

 except in its feeding habits and game qualities. 



The adults of both sexes are alike although 

 there is considerable individual variation; head 

 and under surface of body vinaceous drab,* be- 

 coming richer on the chest and crown and fading 

 to light gray on the throat and to white on the 

 abdomen; back deep mouse gray, slightly glossed 

 with iridescent olive in some specimens; a patch 

 of iridescent green margined with a white collar 

 on back of neck; upper surface of folded wing, 

 rump, and base of tail clear Paynes gray; deep- 

 ening to dusky neutral gray near middle of tail, 

 the darker color forming a black band in sharp 

 contrast to the pale mouse gray on terminal 

 third of tail feathers; flight feathers chsetura 

 black with white line on margin of outer web; 

 feet orange; bill orange with terminal third 

 black; naked eyelids light jasper red; irides rose 

 doree with inner ring of silver. The juvenals are 

 sombre editions of their parents, lacking the 

 iridescent patch and white collar on back of neck 

 and with the vinaceous drab replaced by deep 

 mouse gray; in some individuals with drab feather 

 tipping giving a stippled effect; feet mars yellow or 

 clay color; bill similar with terminal third black; 

 naked eyelids and irides violet plumbeous, the 

 latter with inner ring of fuscous. In flight or 

 when clustered in the tall dead trees they appear 

 quite dark— almost black — and when feeding 

 on the ground, slate blue is the dominant color. 

 The summer range of the Band-tailed Pigeon 

 is from south-western British Columbia through 

 western Washington, western Oregon to California, 



♦The 1921 edition of Ridgway's Color Standards and Co- 

 lor Nomenclature is used in this description. 



Mexico and Nicaragua and eastward to portions of 

 Colorado, western Texas and Arizona. In the 

 southern part of their range their migrations are 

 chiefly zonal; they winter in the Transitional 

 Zone and breed in the higher altitudes. Middle 

 California is the northern limit of their winter 

 range and probably the winter home of British 

 Columbia, Washington and Oregon birds. In 

 Canada their distribution is over a relatively 

 small area, being restricted to southwestern 

 British Columbia we.st of the Cascade Mountains, 

 including Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, 

 and here they are known only as summer residents. 

 Early in May when seeding has commenced in 

 the fertile Eraser Valley, pigeons make their 

 initial appearance; first a small band is noted 

 (with a thrill of interest if the observer be a bird- 

 lover and with disgust tempered by resignation 

 if he be a farmer), then larger flocks appear, and 

 finally comes an invasion. While their arrival 

 from the south is at approximately the same time 

 each year, their appearance in any given locality 

 is uncertain and the size of the flocks variable. 

 Large numbers may visit a district for a few days or 

 only small bands may appear and in adjacent areas 

 of the same type they may not be seen at all. 

 For example, in the spring of 1920 they were 

 very plentiful on Sea Island and Lulu Island. 

 The following year few were seen there and in 

 the Boundary Bay districts thirty miles distant, 

 farmers were complaining of the great flocks that 

 were feeding on their seed grain. During some 

 years they are locally abundant in the spring 

 and scarce in the fall, or vice versa. In the years 

 when they do come in large numbers, farmers 

 insist that their appearance is coincident with 

 seeding operations. 



For possibly three weeks after their arrival they 

 remain in flocks and their vagrant wanderings 

 during this period follow no known laws. Nesting 

 begins early in June and the large flocks are then 

 broken up. There are, however, small flocks 

 always in evidence, presumably males and non- 

 breeding birds, and at this time they are seen less 



