178 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Reichenow states that Columba melanoptera of Molina should be 

 placed in the genus Zenaida. Since Zenaida zenaida has 14 rectrices 

 and a diastataxic wing,^* while in Metriopelia melanoptera I find 

 12 rectrices and a eutaxic wing (verified in two specimens), Reiche- 

 now's action has no basis other than that of superficial resemblance. 



At Zapala, Neuquen, on December 7, 1920, I flushed a male in 

 open brush on the slope of a hill, and killed it as it darted away. 

 Near Potrerillos, Mendoza, a male was taken March 15, 1921, two 

 females on March 16, and a fourth specimen on March 17. 



The birds were found, rather rarely, on arid hill slopes, grown 

 with open brush, or on the gravelly flood plains of small streams. 

 It is seldom that they are seen on the ground, as there they are 

 concealed by the rocks and brush, among which they walk with nod- 

 ding heads; they become motionless at any alarm. They flush 

 swiftly with a peculiar, almost metallic, rattle of the wings, that 

 resembles exactly the winnowing whistle of a blackbird's flight 

 when part of the primaries are missing in molt. They climb for 

 a few feet in rising and then dart swiftly away. The black under 

 wing surface is prominent in flight. On March 19 several Avere seen 

 at El Salto at an altitude of 1,800 meters, while on March 24 one 

 flushed in a dry wash on the flats near the base of the foothills 

 25 kilometers west of Tunuyan. The bird is known as paloma de 

 la sierra. 



An adult male taken December 7 had the bill black; bare skin 

 before eye salmon color; iris yellowish glaucous; tarsus and toes 

 black. Another shot March 15 had the bill dull black; cere deep 

 neutral gray; iris light dull glaucous blue; eyelids light Payne's 

 gray; margin of lower lid, anterior canthus, and space before eye, 

 extending as a crescent below the lower lid slightly brighter than 

 salmon color; tarsus and toes dark quaker drab; nails black. Fe- 

 males shot March 16 did not differ from the one last described. 



COLUMBINA PICUI (Tcmminck) 



CoJumha Picui Temminck, Hist. Nat. Gen. Pig. Gall., vol. 1, 1913, pp. 

 485, 49S. (Paraguay.) 



Material of this pigeon at hand includes specimens from southern 

 Brazil, Paraguay, central Argentina, Mendoza, Chile, and interme- 

 diate localities, in which I can find no difl^erences that warrant sub- 

 division of the species. The status of a race in northeastern Brazil 

 seems somewhat uncertain, so that I have not attempted to use a tri- 

 nomial for my specimens. 



This small pigeon was widely distributed throughout the region 

 that I visited and was recorded at many points. The species is social, 

 and where food is abundant decidedly gregarious. Two or three to 



"Miller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 34, 1915, p. 130. 



