PIGEONS AND DOVES: MOURNING DOVE 
299 
pine buds and the soft tender needles. And in May, 1904, Sun-Elk 
reported, a flock of twenty-five or thirty came down from the canyons 
of the mountains near Taos to the threshing floors of the Pueblo, 
where they picked up the waste wheat and ate wild oats. A few were 
seen there as late as July 10. A number of flocks were reported to 
Sun-Elk from Arroyo Seco. 
On August 10, 1904, a cattleman told me that the Band-tails were 
just beginning to come for acorns into the mountains north of Hondo 
Canyon, where he was running cattle, and on August 11, as we drove 
up the grade leading out of the canyon, we saw a flock of seven flying 
about the oak brush near the top of the wall, evidently gathering the 
acorns which were abundant there at the time. 
On the west side of Moreno Valley, on July 4, 1919, Mr. S. E. 
Piper discovered that two or three thousand Pigeons had congregated 
along the borders of a deep cove. He was attracted to the place by 
heavy shooting on the part of the ranchmen—mainly foreigners who 
said that the birds destroyed their young grain, especially barley. 
On examining several areas from which the birds rose, Mr. Piper 
could find no indication that they were either digging or pulling the 
young grain; and barley found in the gizzard of one was old stained 
grain evidently gathered from the surface or about old stack or shock 
stands. It was evident that the hunters were seeking justification 
for shooting them, though several averred that they had found them 
unfit to eat! (MS). 
“ Although there is no open season for the hunting of these birds, 
Mr. Ligon says they do not appear to increase but remain in about 
the same numbers, an indication that they could not stand an open 
season in this State” (1927, p. 145). 
Now that the Passenger Pigeon, which once flocked in hordes 
that darkened the sun, has been exterminated, especially wise guardian¬ 
ship should be accorded the remaining pigeons of the country that they 
may not meet a similar fate. The Band-tail's habit of flocking in 
sections affording a good food supply makes this a real danger, as has 
been already proved in California where unrestricted shooting came 
near resulting in its extermination in the State. 
Additional Literature.—Grinnell, Joseph, Condor, XV, 25-40, 1913.— 
Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, Game Birds of California, 575-588, 1918.—Wil¬ 
lard, F. C., Condor, XVIII, 110-112, 1916. 
WESTERN MOURNING DOVE: Zenaidura macroura marginella (Woodhouse) 
Plate 31 
Description. — Length: 10.5-13.2 inches, wing 4.7-G.2, tail 5.7-6.5, bill .5-.6. Tail 
elongated and pointed, bordered with while and black. Adult male: Body brownish, 
pinkish fawn-colored below with iridescent blackish spots on side of head, back and 
wings; top of head washed with bluish, sides of neck glittering with iridescence; iris 
