386 COLUMBA FASCIATA, BAND-TAILED PIGEON. 



where reptiles are few, it generally sets on the ground ; in Arizona, for 

 instance, the paradise of snakes and lizards, it always nestles in bushes. 

 So, also, does the Griound Dove (GhamcBpelia passerina), in the same 

 Territory. The nidiflcation of the Band-tailed Pigeon may be equally 

 variable. 



According to Dr. Cooper, this Pigeon is common in all the wooded 

 mountainous parts of California, descending to the valleys in search of 

 grain during autumn and winter. " North of San Francisco I have seen 

 them in flocks in the grain -fields as early as July, and along the Colum- 

 bia Eiver they spend the summer in the valleys as well as throughout 

 the mountains. They are there migratory, leaving in October, but in 

 California their wanderings are guided chieiiy by want of food. I have 

 found them breeding in the Coast Eange as far south as Santa Cruz, 

 though I did not succeed in finding any nests. I was told that they 

 built in companies, on low bushes in unfrequented parts of the mount- 

 ains, but Townsend found their eggs on the ground near the banks of 

 streams in Oregon, numbers congregating together. I have myself 

 found eggs, which I supposed to be of this bird, in a similar situation. 

 * * * * They feed on acorns, which they swallow Avhole, even when 

 very large; also on berries, especially those of the Madrona [Arbutufi), 

 grain, and seeds of various kinds. Being large, and delicate food, they 

 furnish much sport for the fowler in certain districts, but soon become 

 so watchful and shy that they are shot with difficulty, excepting when 

 young or where they can be watched from an ambush. In Oregon they 

 ■collect in flocks of thousands in the autumn, but I have never seen 

 more than a hundred together in this State." 



Dr. George Suckley, whose opportunities of investigation were excel- 

 lent, has left us the following record : " The Band-tailed Pigeon is a 

 very common bird in Washington Territory, especially west of the Cas- 

 cade Mountains ; I saw but one flock, containing five individuals, east 

 of those mountains. In 1856 the first birds of this species that arrived 

 in the spring made their appearance about May 15, which is the cus- 

 tomary time every year for their arrival. One or two individuals are 

 first seen, and within two or three days thereafter the main body of the 

 migration follows. A small number remain throughout the summer and 

 breed ; the rest retire further north. Those that remain generally make 

 their nests in thick fir-forests, near water. They subsist during the 

 summer on wild cherries and other berries, and later in the season, since 

 the country has become settled, upon grain. About the first week in 

 September large flocks congregate in stubble-fields in the vicinity of 

 Foi-t Steilacoom, and for two or three weeks thereafter their numbers 

 are daily augmented by arrivals from the Iforth. Some flocks of these 

 Pigeons, that I saw in September, must have contained at least one 

 thousand individuals. I am told that in the cultivated districts on the 

 Cowlitz Eiver, at the same season, they are in still greater numbers. 

 By the 5th of October, of the year 1856, all had suddenly disapi)eared, 

 with the exception of a few stragglers, generally young birds. In fly- 

 ing, the flocks, I think, are not quite so compactly crowded as those of 

 the Passenger Pigeon. During the summer, while breeding, their cooing 

 can be heard a long distance. The name of this bird in the Jfisqually 

 language is 'hubboh,' a good imitation of its calls. * * * * in 

 autumn these birds are in excellent order for the table ; indeed I prefer 

 them to the Wild Pigeon of the Atlantic States." 



There is another kind of Dove in the West which may yet be found 

 in the southernmost parts of the Missouri region, but which I have no 

 authority for introducing in the present connection. This is the White- 



