Jan., 1913 OUTLOOK FOR CONSERVING THE BAND-TAILED-_PIGEONi 37 'came to hunt pigeons. A prominent sportsman stated'that these passengers averaged about thirty birds apiece per day: This would make a single day's ex- cursion account for over 3,ooo pigeons. The pigeons "evidently hung around until they ?ere simply shot out." Is it not obvious that we have now allowed the unrestricted killing of pigeons until actual extermination is threatened ? Is it not now too late for the enactment of rextrictive measures to have any benefit in saving the pigeon as a game bird ? Is not the only alternative demanded by the facts, an extended close period, so as to allow the pigeon to recover somewhat of its former strength ? When we consider the extraordinarily slow rate of 'reproduction of the Band.- tailed Pigeon--as slow as that of the Black-tailed Deer which for more than n decade has been accorded a long annual close season and a bag limit of two in one year--in conjunction with the uncurbed slaughter to which the bird has been subjected, only one course appears to be open if we wish to re-establish the pigeon as an important game product of the state. It should be accorded at least ?ve years' total protection. This would give it a chance to recover to a certain extent from the long period of unrestrained killing which it has up till now endured with the odds increasingly against it. Only such a close season, put into effect at once, will save the Band-tailed Pigeon, as a game bird. Because of the probable permanence of our mountain fastnesses scattering representations of the species are likely to persist, in spite of continued persecution, for a few years to come. But if we are to count upon the Band-tailed Pigeon as an element of value in the game resources of the state, appropriate measures ?nust be enforced to allow the re-growth of an adequate breeding-stock, and thereafter the annual toll by hunters must be restricted to a percentage inside of the birth-rate. SUMMARY The Band-tailed Pigeon has been. reported in greater or less numbers from widely separated localities, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and from British Columbia to Mexico. Yet the evidence at hand leads to the belief that all those birds breeding within the Pacific Coast region from Vancouver Island south to the Mexican line, concentrate during the winter season in the. valley and foot- hill sections of west-central and southern California. It becomes clearly apparent, therefore, that California holds the key to the future of the species as far as the Pacific slope is concerned. Because the pigeon is broadly scattered throughout the forests and mountains of the whole Pacific district during the summer, it is not at that season particu- larly liable to decimation. But it'is during the winter, when the birds are forced . by uneven food supply into small areas in central and southern California, that there is a chance for almost unlimited destruction by hunters, such as occurred in the late winter of I9II-I2. In rate of increase, the Band-tailed Pigeon is by far the slowest of all our game birds. As a rule but one young is reared each year. Contrast this with ten among quail, eight among ducks, and four among wading birds. The impressive fact that our wild pigeon does not exceed, in rate of reproduction, the birth- rate of deer, antelope and elk, suggests the demand for treatment in game legis- lation to correspond with that. given these large mammals. -. Because of the dependence of the Band-tailed Pigeon upon wild fruits and nuts, and because of the varying' crop of these from year to year, the winter dis- tribution of the bird is practically never the same two years in succession. While
