BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 179 



half a dozen were nearly always found in company, while bands of 

 25 or 30 were not unusual save when the birds were breeding. They 

 frequented the borders of thickets, weed patches, open prairies, or 

 old fields seldom far from trees that might give them shelter. 

 Where high gi'ass covered the open savannas the birds gathered in 

 any little open space at the border of forest, while recent burns 

 or plowed fields were always attractive to them. At the Riacho 

 Pilaga, Formosa, a little band came daily to feed on sorghum heads 

 stored under a porch at the ranch. The species is one that comes 

 frequently about houses and that may be found in the plazas of the 

 larger cities. I found it even in the Plaza San Martin, in the heart 

 of Buenos Aires, so that it was almost a surprise to encounter the 

 birds in comparative abundance in the wilder sections of the Chaco 

 far from human habitation. In March, near Tunuyan, Mendoza, 

 extensive fields of hemp called the birds in abundance. As the hemp 

 was grown solely for the fiber that it produced, the seed was allowed 

 to ripen thoroughly and shelled out to lie on the ground. Doves gath- 

 ered literally in hundreds, especially where lines of willows bordered 

 the fields to offer resting places. The birds flush quickly with a dart- 

 ing flight and fly rapidly, but as they are small in size are not 

 hunted, save by the pothunters, who kill all small birds. In the air 

 the black and white in the wing flash alternately, while there is an 

 additional line of white visible in the tail. In habits and general 

 appearance the birds are suggestive of ground doves. 



Males began their monotonous cooing calls in October. On De- 

 cember 17 a female, shot near Carhue, Buenos Aires, contained an 

 egg with the shell partly formed. Near Montevideo, Uruguay, on 

 January 16, 1921, two young, not more than three-fourths grown 

 but strong in flight, were seen. A nest recorded January 29, near 

 San Vicente, Uruguay, was placed at the border of a little thicket, 

 more than 2 meters from the ground, where two small limbs crossed 

 and offered firm support. The nest, a slight platform of grass and 

 weed stems, contained two eggs nearly ready to hatch. A second 

 nest found February 19 near Rio Negro, Uruguay, at the border of 

 a thicket was placed in a shrub among thickly laced branches more 

 than 2 meters from the ground. The nest, a slight structure of grass 

 and fine twigs with a few feathers from the bodies of the OAvners, 

 contained two slightly incubated eggs that are white in color and 

 rather dull in texture. These measure, respectively, 23.6 by 17.7 

 and 23.1 by 18.2 mm. To my surprise, when I collected the bird that 

 was incubating, it proved to be the male. Males were calling and 

 were still in breeding condition at Tunuyan, Mendoza, on March 24. 

 At Tapia, Tucuman, in the second week of April young birds, fully 

 grown, were common and the breeding season appeared to be at an 

 end. With allowance for differences in climatic conditions it appears 



