30 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
advanced, some in the air all the time, and ground was covered quite rapidly. 
The crop of a specimen secured * * contained 615 grains of barley by 
actual count” (Gilman, 1903, p. 134). 
The relative paucity of records of definite damage to grain leads to the con- 
clusion that the amount of actual loss inflicted by pigeons is very small. Kor, if 
it regulai ly reached appreciable proportions, we would hear far more frequent 
complaints. The irregularity in distribution from year to year serves to mitigate 
such an adverse bearing of the pigeon. Only at long intervals are the birds like- 
ly to visit a given locality in just the apuropriate season to have any effect on the 
grain intere.sts. 
Nrsting H.'\ruTs 
Our Band-tailed Pigeon, unlike the Passenger Pigeon which once abounded 
in the northeastern states, does not nest in close colonies. Records show that with 
our bird, even where in summer numerous, the nests are widelv scattered through 
a given tract of woods. An extreme case is reported from Arizona where, in the 
Huachuca Mountains, a community of about thirty-five pairs nested in a “scat- 
tered rookery, probably not averaging a nest to everv three or four acres at the 
most thickly populated part” (Fowler, 1903, p. 69). 
We find in literature a number of general statements to the effect that Band- 
tailed Pigeons “nest in small colonies”. But in no case is there any detailed ac- 
count of such nestings ; and it may well be that these are general impressions or 
hearsay notions. It is true that all through the breeding season pigeons are seen 
in flight from place to place in small companies. It is possible that the compo- . 
nent individuals belong to nesting pairs and convene in flocks when foraging, but 
isolate themselves when visiting their nests. This evident trait is probably respon- 
sible for the notion above referred to, that the birds nest in colonies. In the writ- 
er’s experience in California, difficulty enough has been found in locating even 
one nest, and this when the birds were almost constantly in sight. The point is 
plain — that this species is not to be considered notably more sociable during the 
nesting season than the Mourning Dove. The pigeons scatter out at nesting time 
over large extents of suitable country. 
Nesting places chosen vary considerably. According to Bendire (1892, p. 
123), nests have been found, in Oregon, on the ground between two tree roots, 
upon an old stump eight feet from the ground, another in the top of a fir about 
180 feet from the ground. In AVashington, eggs are “often laid upon the bare 
ground of an oak grove, hop-field, or clearing, without pretense of nest”. Usual- 
ly, however, they are placed in fir saplings “at a height of ten or twenty feet, rest- 
ing against the stem of the tree or upon a horizontal branch” (Dawson, 1909, 
P- 555)- 
Here in California, we have only hearsay statements to the effect that pige- 
ons nest on the ground. Definite accounts of such a habit are lacking. Specif- 
ically described nesting sites are characterized by such remarkable uniformity in 
location that we are safe in concluding that the birds ordinarily select horizontal 
limbs of trees upon which to place their nests. Height above the ground varies 
in the described cases from 8 to 29 feet. 
Nest trees, where named, have been black oak and golden oak, and these 
trees have stood in open mountain forests on canyon sides or steep slopes other- 
wise. In one case (Mailliard, MS) the nest was built upon the overhanging 
branch of a lilac, but this grew upon a rather open steep slope. It would appear 
that the birds select such a site as will allow of their taking direct and therefore 
rapid flight from and to the nest. 
