THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 177 



NOTES ON THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON. 



Report of Investigations in Tillamook County to Determine the 

 Economic Status of the Wild Pigeon. 



By Stanley G. Jew kit. 



(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 regarding 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. — Editor.) 



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 remain until the elderberries are sufficiently 

 grown to offer them food. I was told by several local farmers and 

 sportsmen that elderberries, huckleberries, salal and cascara 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 

 distribution 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 elder- 

 berry 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 interviewing 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 Wilson 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 interesting. A flock will circle 

 over a field several times before lighting, when all at once they drop 

 to the ground, and instead of spreading out, keep close together, alter- 

 nately walking and flying, some in the air all the time, others walking 

 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 sundown in the evening. 



