When I decided to attempt the pre- 

 paration of a review history of ;he 

 pigeon in Manitoba, I felt that having 

 had practically no experience with 

 the bird myself I should have- to de- 

 pend upon the reports of representa- 

 tive pioneers of the country for my 

 facts as to the numbers of the birds 

 formerly found here, and the period 

 of their decline and disappearance. I 

 accordingly drafted a series of ques- 

 tions which I submitted to these gen- 

 tlemen, and I have- to tender them all 

 my sincere thanks, as well as that of 

 the scientific world, for the ready 

 responses and the conciseness of the 

 information received. 



I shall here quote from the replies 

 received. 



One of the earliest residents I find 

 is Mr. Geo. A. Garrioch, of Portage la 

 Prairie, who says: 



" I was born in Manitoba, and came 

 to Portage la Prairie about 1853. I 

 was then only about six years old, 

 and do not remember very much 

 about the pigeons at that time, but 

 as long as I can remember they were 

 very numerous. 



" They passed over every spring, 

 usually during the mornings, in very 

 iarge flocks, following each other u. 

 rapid succession. 



" I do not think they bred in any 

 numbers in the province, as I only 

 remember seeing one nest; this con- 

 tained two eggs. 



" The birds to my recollection were 

 most numerous in the fifties, and thd 

 decline was noticed in the later six- 

 ties and continued until the early 

 eighties, when they had disappeared. 

 I have observed none since until last 

 year when I am positive I saw a 

 singlemale bird south of the town of 

 Portage la Prairie.'.' 



Mr. Angus Sutherland, of Winni- 

 peg, in reply to my interrogation, 

 states: "I was born in the present 

 city of Winnipeg and have lived here 

 for over fifty years. The wild pigeons 

 were very numerous as far back as 

 I can remember. They frequented 

 the mixed woods about the city, and 

 while undoubtedly many birds bred 

 here, I remember no extensive breed- 

 ing colonies in the province, and be- 

 lieve the great majority passed far- 

 ther north to breed. About 1870 the 

 decrease in their numbers was most 

 pronouncedly manifest, this decline 

 continuing until the early eighties, 

 when they had apparently ail disap- 

 peared, and I have seen only occa- 

 sional birds since, and none of late 

 years. 



Mr. W. J. McLean, formerly of the 

 Hudson's Bay company, and; at pres- 

 ent resident in Winnipeg, sends me 

 some valuable information which sup- 



ports my contention regarding the in- 

 fluence of food supply. He states: 



•"1 came to tne Kea Kiver Settlement 

 in I860 and touna tne pigeons very 

 numerous on my arrival ana tnat tney 

 nau ueeii, equany numerous tor some 

 years previous. xne birds came in 

 many mousanas ana great numbers 

 ox uicm orea in the northeastern por- 

 tion or tn« province througn the Ois- 

 Lnct norm of the Bake of the Woods 

 ana Kainy j_»ake, where the cranberry 

 etna Diueoerry are aDundant, ana these 

 fruits .constitute their chief food sup- 

 ply as they remain on the bushes and 

 re Lain much of their food properties 

 until well on into the summer iollow- 

 mg their growth. They also feed 

 largely on acorns wherever they 

 aoound. The first decline 1 noticed 

 was about the early seventies and 1877 

 was tne last occasion on which 1 saw 

 any numbers of the birds, when I en- 

 countered large flocks of them passing 

 northwesterly from White Sand river 

 near Fort .felly. This was on a dull 

 drizzling day about the middle of May, 

 ana 1 presume they were then heading 

 toward the Barren grounds district, 

 where the blueberry and cranoerry 

 are again very abundant." 



Mr. F. H. G. G. Hay, formerly police 

 magistrate of Portage la Prairie, now 

 of St. Andrew's, reports: I came to 

 the country in June, 1861, and found 

 that the pigeons were abundant previ- 

 ous to* my arrival. To give you an 

 idea of their numbers a Mr. Thomp- 

 son, of St. Andrew's, some mornings 

 caught with a net about 10 feet square 

 as many as eighty dozen, and in the 

 spring of 1864 1 fired into, a flock as 

 they rose from the ground and picked 

 up seventeen birds. 



"The birds were mostly migratory in 

 what is now known as Manitoba and 

 mostly all would go further north 

 after the seeding season, and I 

 never heard of any extensive rookeries 

 such as one recorded for the east and 

 south. The few that bred here fre- 

 quented mixed poplar and spruce. 

 They seemed most numerous in the 

 sixties and began to show signs of de- 

 creasing about 1869 or '70 and by 1875 

 they had all dsappeared and I have 

 only seen an occasional bird since." 



Mr. Wm. Clark, of the Hudson's Bay 

 company, Winnipeg, informs me: 



"The first place I remember having 

 seen pigeons in Manitoba was at 

 White Horse plains (St. Francois 

 Xavier) in 1865, where they were very 

 numerous, many of them breeding in 

 the oak trees in that district. 



Two years after this I went to Oak 

 Point on Bake Manitoba, but do not 

 remember the birds there nor since." 



