6 LHE AUDUBON -B ULE Ei 
to overlap as do turtles when sunning themselves on a log in a swamp. The 
pigeons were in such numbers that the trees were bent with their weight. 
Small tiocks kept coming in to join those already roosting. Some flew directly 
over my head, so I distinctly saw that in shape and color these were much 
like our bluish barnyard pigeons. Their tails were straight, but rounded at 
the corners and tipped with a wide grayish band. Occasionally I could see 
the light colored crescent that marks the nape of the neck. I now knew that 
these were the band-tailed pigeons such as I had seen last year on Mt. 
Laguna, east of San Diego. Without doubt they had come down from the 
mountains to seek food, following our three days of very cold stormy 
weather. Very likely their favorite food, which is acorns, was covered with 
snow. That week the Banning Live Wire gave a most interesting account 
ot a fiock of between five and six thousand of such pigeons seen feeding on 
a freshly disced barley field at Midway. On March 8, I read in the Los 
Angeles Times that band-tailed pigeons had descended on newly planted 
barley fields in northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties in 
such numbers that loss of the barley crop was threatened. The article said 
the owners of the land had secured from the Federal Government permits 
to kill the hordes. These pigeons have been carefully protected by law, 
for at one time they were almost exterminated, due to the fact that hunters 
killed them off faster than they reproduced. Dawson states in his book, 
“The Birds of California,” that the band-tailed pigeons probably mate but 
ence a year and that only one egg is deposited. I have kept a record of the 
number I have seen each time I passed their favorite roost. The greatest 
number I saw at any time was 700 on March 22. April 19 they were still 
there—that is, 19 were. But since this is the date on which we found the 
nest of the bush-tit, I may have neglected during our hunt for the nest to 
keep strict watch for pigeons flying in overhead. It seems that these birds 
are very erratic in their selection of a locality in which to spend the winter, 
and so it may be some years before the band-tailed pigeons again visit us. 
The mourning dove is the tan-colored dove that hunters shoot during the 
open season. Its pointed tail identifies it immediately. 
Since the last day of February, almost every time I have been birding 
near the hills I have seen or heard California, or valley, quail. They are 
now so tame they often stand in the middle of the road to take a good look 
at me before they run or fly to cover. The California quail is our State Bird. 
May 8, at sundown, while enjoying the fragrance of roses and the riot 
of color of a beautiful flower garden, the thrilling song of the black-headed 
grosbeak added to my pleasure. Several species of hummingbirds dashed 
about, pausing from time to time to sip from tiny cups filled with sweetened 
water, or to rest on a low-hung wire. One hummer (Costa’s) remained on 
the wire within a few feet of a lady’s face while she talked to it. The lady 
told me that the Arizona hooded oriole had not been satisfied to drink the 
cups of sugar-water dry, but had actually pulled out and carried away 
several of the cups. Since Bullock’s oriole is also a frequent visitor to the 
sugar-water, it, too, probably aided in the theft of the cups. 
Banning is east of the direct north and south migration route of birds. 
Although many do come to us after spending the winter farther south or 
the summer farther north, the greatest migration here seems to be 
