The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXVI 



about the fields and more frequently in the timber. 

 Few nests of the Band-tailed Pigeons have been 

 found in British Columbia, indeed, the discovery 

 of a nest even in the Western United States 

 where so many ornithologists are in the field is 

 deemed worthy of special record. A discussion 

 of their nesting habits, however, does not come 

 within the scope of this article; suffice it to say 

 that they do not breed in colonies as did the 

 Passenger Pigeon, and that their solitary nesting 

 has been the chief reason for their continued 

 existence. Like the Passenger Pigeon, only one 

 young is raised by each pair in a year. Early in 

 August, when the young are full grown, they 

 once more gather in flocks and forage in the woods 

 and fields until their departure in September. 

 There seems little doubt that the protection 

 afforded this species under the Migratory Birds 

 Convention has been the cause of a considerable 

 increase in British Columbia. Some settlers 

 who have taken up land within the past ten years 

 are under the impression that their appearance in 

 British Columbia is a recent one — another of 

 nature's aggressions — while old-timers recall early 

 days when their number was legion. A resident 

 of Saanichton, Vancouver Island, informed me 

 that during 1911 only one pair of pigeons was 

 seen on his farm of eight hundred acres; that in 

 subsequent years they appeared in varying 

 numbers at different seasons but were not con- 

 sidered a menace to crops until the spring and 

 autumn of 1919. 



Pigeons arrive in British Columbia when their 

 natural food is at its lowest ebb. It is supposed 

 that before the days of agriculture in this pro- 

 vince, they subsisted entirely on what dried berries, 

 seeds, cherry stones, acorns, etc., could be dis- 

 covered under the fallen leaves in the forest, 

 probably eked out by buds and tender leaves. 

 When in later years they found grain-planted 

 clearings in the timber where once they had 

 foraged industriously for a scant sustenance, it is 

 natural to suppose that this highly concentrated 

 food offered in abundance during a season of 

 scarcity should have exerted a marked influence 

 on their feeding habits. Grain-eating probably 

 has become more of a racial habit in the northern 

 birds than in those that breed farther south, 

 owing to the fewer indigenous varieties of seed 

 and berry producing plants found in the north. 

 Contrasted with California's wealth of oaks, 

 manzanitas, madrones and other fruit-bearing 

 trees, British Columbia is relatively poor in such 

 food. The oak, for example, is restricted to a 

 small portion of Vancouver Island. 



Aseuming that birds follow the migration 

 routee of their ancestors, it follows that the 



pigeons now breeding in British Columbia are of 

 British Columbia extraction and have had little 

 commerce with, for instance, those resident in 

 California, where their migrations are chiefly 

 altitudinal. It is thought that individuals, or 

 groups of individuals, among many species of 

 birds develop certain habits in harmony with 

 their environment and that these habits persist 

 in their descendants even though they are foreign 

 to the species as a whole. Under some conditions 

 Blackbirds and Robins become habitual fish- 

 eaters, yet fish-eating is not a racial habit. The 

 Loon in the northern lakes of Ontario feeds on 

 mullet and Cyprinoids and is apparently designed 

 for the delight and edification of tourists; in the 

 mountain lakes of British Columbia he is a trout- 

 eater, a duck-killer, and is execrated by sports- 

 men. On the prairie the Mallard fattens in the 

 grain fields, on Vancouver Island he grows rank 

 on a diet of rotten salmon; the list could be 

 extended indefinitely. That species are not a 

 fixed quantity but undergo various physical 

 modifications due to climatic and topographical 

 conditions is an axiom of modern science. That 

 there frequently are important modifications of 

 their feeding habits as a result of peculiar local 

 conditions is not so generally recognized; at least 

 no emphasis is laid on this point in the current 

 literature of economic ornithology. The point I 

 am trying to make is this; the economic status of 

 the Band-tailed Pigeon in British Columbia is a 

 problem for our own solving and our conclusion 

 must be based on the results obtained from field 

 work in this province. 



In the spring and autumn of 1921, while gather- 

 ing data on this question, I interviewed a number 

 of farmers in the pigeon districts. All were 

 agreed that pigeons were responsible for a great 

 deal of damage, but their opinions regarding the 

 nature of this damage were greatly at variance. 

 In one district I was told that pigeons took only 

 seed grain when newly planted; in another 

 district they were said to do the most damage to 

 sprouted grain. Farmers in other districts stated 

 that little damage was done in the spring but that 

 in the late summer they attacked the stooked grain 

 while in still other districts I was informed that 

 only fruit was taken in the autumn but that their 

 damage to newly planted crops frequently entailed 

 a second sowing. Taking into consideration 

 the erratic nature of the species I am inclined to 

 think that all these opinions are more or less 

 correct. 



It is thought that under ordinary conditions 

 the amount of seed wheat, oats, or barley taken 

 by pigeons has little efi"ect on the harvest. Early 

 in June, I examined a ten acre field of wheat ove 



