152 



THE GAME BREEDER 



ed a reasonable time to get deer from 

 the woods to his own home but not other- 

 wise." 



Speaking of the term "reasonable 

 time," Mr. Perkins said that he at one 

 time consulted a supreme court justice 



as to what he considered was meant by 

 the law in this case, and he gave the 

 opinion that three or four days was a 

 reasonable time for men to ship their 

 game from the woods.- — Maine Woods.. 



THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON. 



By Stanley G. Jewett. 



[The band-tailed pigeon should be made very abundant on big game farms and preserves,, 

 just as the wood-pigeon has been made abundant in England. The owners easily can pre- 

 vent the birds doing damage. — Editor.] 



Occasionally a report is sent in to our 

 office to the effect that wild pigeons are 

 destroying crops in some of the coast 

 counties. To ascertain the facts regard- 

 ing the food habits and abundance of 

 these birds, Mr. Jewett spent the greater 

 part of the month of May in 1913 in 

 Tillamook county. He was in the field 

 • each day from May 2 to and including 

 May 25 and collected the following data : 



The wild pigeons arrive in Tillamook 

 County from the south about the first 

 week in April and become common about 

 the 20th of the month. At this time 

 most of the farmers are sowing oats, and 

 the pigeons congregate in flocks of from 

 twenty to one hundred, and from the 

 evidence I gathered, they feed mainly on 

 oats picked up from the surface of the 

 ground. All the pigeons I saw were in 

 the agricultural districts where they re- 

 main until the elderberries are sufficiently 

 grown to offer them food. I was told by 

 several local farmers and sportsmen that 

 elderberries, huckleberries, salal and cas- 

 cara berries are the main food supply of 

 the pigeons during the summer and early 

 fall months. 



The food supply appears to be the 

 main controlling factor in the distribu- 

 tion of the pigeon. In early spring when 

 the oats are first sown or just sprouting, 

 the birds are to be found in the fields, a 

 little later they will be found along the 

 rivers and foothills where the elderberry 

 is plentiful, and in the fall on the open 

 hills along the coast where they find an 

 abundance of huckleberries. 



Several complaints reached me of the 



damage done by pigeons to the oat crop 

 in Tillamook County, but upon interview- 

 ing several reliable farmers, I came. to 

 the conclusion that most, if not all, of 

 these reports were greatly exaggerated. 

 For example, on May 5 a farmer living 

 along \Vilson River about five miles 

 from Tillamook sowed a ten-acre field, 

 to oats; next day I saw some fifty or 

 sixty pigeons about this field. I again, 

 visited the place on May 24, and found 

 a good stand of oats about three inches 

 high. I never knew of this bird pulling- 

 up rooted grain, although some kernels 

 with sprouts as long as three-quarters of 

 an inch were found in the crop. It is a 

 well-known fact that grain lying on the 

 ground in wet climates will sprout, but 

 one or two days' sunshine will shrivel 

 it up and make it entirely worthless, so 

 the pigeons should be welcome to it. 



Their method of feeding is very in- 

 teresting. A flock will circle over a field 

 several times before lighting, when all 

 at once they drop to the ground, and in- 

 stead of spreading out, keep close to- 

 gether, alternately walking and flying, 

 some in the air all the time, others walk- 

 ing along picking up kernels of oats left 

 on the surface of the ground. Then all 

 at once the flock rises and flies off to 

 some tall, dead spruce or alder tree to 

 rest awhile before the performance is 

 done all over again. 



On rainy days I believe the pigeons 

 feed off and on all day, but on clear days 

 most of the feeding is done during the 

 early morning hours and just before sun- 

 down in the evening. 



