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30 THeE CONDOR Vol. XV advanced, some' in the air all the time,. and ground was covered quite rapidly. The crop of a specimen secured * * * contained 6i 5 grains of barley by actual count" (Gilman, ?9o3, p. I34).' 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. For, it regularly reached appreciable proportions, xve 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- 13, to visit a given' locality in .inst the appropriate season to have any effect on the grain interests.' NESTI?-G }{ABITS Our Band-tailed Pigeon, unlike the Passenger Pigeon %vhich 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 widely 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 every three or four acres. at the most thickly populated part" (Fowlerl I9o3, 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 plac e 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 tl?e notion above referred to, that. th? birds nest in colonies. In the writ- er's ekperience in California, difficulty en.ugh has been found in locating even one nest, and this when the birds were alni.0st constantly in sight. The point is plain--that thls species is not to be consid'0red notably more sociable during the nesting season than the Mourning Dove. '/?he pigeons scatter out at nesting time over large extents of suitable country. Nesting places chosen vary considerably. According to Bendire (I892, p. I23), nests have been found, in Oregon,,0n the ground between two tree roots, upon' an old stump eight feet from the gromtd, another in the top of a fir about I8O feet from the ground. , In Washington, '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, I9o9, 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 ne?ts.' Height above the ground varies in the described cases from '8 to 29 ?eet. ' ' Nest trees, where named, have been .l?ack 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 ?est was built -upon the overhangi?-g branch of a lilac. but this grew npon a rathfir 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.