U. S. F. S. RECE: 1 , 

 LIBRARY 



SEP 15 1939 



United States Department of the Interior 

 Bureau of Biological Survey- 



3 MA %+•• • * -~* »- * ■** ' • "" 



Wildlife Leaflet BS-143 



Washington, D. C. * 



August 1939 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CONTROL OF VAGRANT DOMESTIC PIGEONS 



Prepared in the Section of Food Habits 

 Division of Wildlife Research 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 Their origin 1 



Status of the city pigeon. ... 2 



Suggestions for control 3 



Avoidance and prevention ... 3 

 Frightening devices 3 



Suggestions for control — Con. 



Trapping 



Shooting 



Poisoning 



Gassing 



Page 



4 

 4 

 4 

 4 



THEIR ORIGIN 



Pigeons similar to those now living in a serniwild state in the parks 

 and streets of our towns and cities have been as closely associated with 

 man throughout history as his domestic animals. The progenitors of these 

 "birds can he traced through medieval times, into the dynasties of early 

 Egyptian kings, and even to the realm of myths "before the recorded word. 



Evidence presented by the birds themselves, in the form, coloration, 

 and habits of even the promiscuously interbred pigeons that we now find 

 in the streets, points to the likelihood that originally these birds came 

 from the blue rock, or common pigeon ( Columba livia ) of Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa. They may have been held in semidomesticatidn by early man, or 

 they may have taken advantage of easier living in human surroundings. 

 Innumerable races, or strains, of pigeons have been developed by selective 

 breeding and by the perpetuation of unique offshoots from parent stc: . 

 When left to their own resources, however, as are the members of the 

 "tramp" flocks that make a living from the city streets, the birds tend 

 to revert to a type suggesting the rock pigeon. 



When one reads of the great flocks of pigeons in the public squares 

 of the cities of Europe and Asia, flocks ae old as the cities themselves, 

 and then sees their counterparts in modern times, it is evident that the 

 urban pigeon will continue to be a close associate of man and his works 

 for years to come. Reasons for this are not hard to find. Observe the 



