The farms and oak woods around San Andreas, says the Independent, have been black with wild pigeons for some days past. They are fat and not very shy of the hunter. The flesh, however, is somewhat embittered by the vast quantities of acorns they consume. They appear fond of courting the acquaintances of tame pigeons, and will venture close to barns and out-houses where the latter congregate, so that they are shot without much trouble.
December 23, 1859. [Farm and woods by San Andreas black with wild pigeons.] California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences 12(20): 157.