34 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
tural dangers, and its remarkably slow rate of increase was doubtless great 
enough to easily maintain its numbers under the conditions obtaining before the 
appearance of the white man and his firearms. 
Factors Favoring thp Persistence; oe the Pigeon 
As we reflect upon the above facts of slow increase and gregarious habits 
our only marvel is that the pigeon has been able to maintain its existence at all in 
face of the fifty years or more of hunting to which it has been subjected without 
restraint. The factors which have allowed the persistence of the bird against this 
new and adverse condition are probably included among the following. 
( 1 ) The birds repair to forested areas for the breeding season. These are 
mostly in rough, mountainous country, sparsely settled by man. It is likely, fur- 
ther, that owing to the forest reserve system, of more and more recognized value 
as a governmental institution, these summer retreats will never be wholly de- 
stroyed through clearing or settlement. 
(2) The pigeon does not nest in colonies, but the individual pairs scatter out 
through the woods. 
(3) The pigeon is secretive in its nesting habits, so that the nests are not 
subject to molestation by marauding humans or beasts. “Their nests are mere 
platforms and hard to see ; owing to the surrounding foliage, they are not readily 
discovered except by the actual flushing of the bird. One must be quick even to 
see the bird. It does not flutter along the ground in the manner of the Mourn- 
ing Dove, nor does it sit on a nearby branch and coo, but is off like a shot ; and 
it requires a pretty sharp eye to follow its flight through the trees” (Sharp, 1902, 
p. 16). 
(4) In winter, although the pigeons gather in large flocks and concentrate in 
limited districts, they are irregularly distributed from year to year. That is, al- 
though they may be hunted to the verge of annihilation in a restricted area one 
season, the residue is not likely to return to the same locality the following year, 
and so be subjected to a repetition of the catastrophe. The nature of the food and 
the fact that this is of variable supply, leads to the wintering of pigeons in re- 
curring seasons in rough mountain country where they are largely out of reach 
of hunters, thus giving the birds frequent respite. 
(5) Several writers and observers, even as far back as Cooper (1870, p. 
507), comment upon the quickness with which the pigeons become wary when 
shot at. They learn suspicion of hunters; “their shyness is probably due to the 
fact that in their passage from the north they are compelled to run the gauntlet 
of hundreds of gunners” (Henshaw, 1876, p. 265). 
And here is one benefit which accrues from the flocking habit ; individual 
safety is attained through community watchfulness. This may be considered as 
in part counter-balancing the possibility of pot-shooting numbers of the birds at 
one time because of their being massed in a flock. The gregarious habit brings 
to the hunted bird both benefit and danger; but with the increased deadliness of 
firearms, the constantly augmented numbers of hunters, and the ever greater fa- 
cilities for quickly reaching a locality where pigeons are known to have appeared, 
it would seem that the flocking habit brings disproportionately greater danger to 
the birds, as time goes on. 
The Destruction in 1912 
Judging from recorded accounts, it is only at rare intervals that such a 
