202 Mr. O. V. Aplin on the 



108. Zenaida maculata. Spotted Dove. 



The "Torcasa^' is a very abundant bird. Most of them 

 go to the monte to breed, but there are always a number 

 about any estancia where there are trees. At Sta. Elena in 

 early autumn great numbers roosted in the trees, and 

 hundreds could be seen in the morning on the ground round 

 the buildings, collecting especially where the fowls were fed. 

 A good many could be seen, however, in the trees any day 

 in spring or summer, and their quiet coo was a common and 

 pleasant sound ; it consists of four notes, each of the three 

 last lower in tone than the previous one. They are tame 

 little birds, and I often admired them as they walked about 

 the patio under the trees, close to where I sat skinning 

 birds. They certainly eat a good deal of maize when they 

 get the chance (I took 18 grains out of the crop of one bird), 

 and I think they feed too a good deal on the seeds of the 

 cardoon. The nest is the usual light structure of twigs. 

 On the 23rd November I observed a great number of nests 

 in a part of the monte of the Arroyo Grande where the tala 

 wood was very thick ; the birds flew off their nests at every 

 few yards as we made our way through the bushes. The 

 eggs were plainly visible from below. 



■^CoLUMBULA picui. Picui Dovc. 



Specimens in the Museum, and I was assured that it 

 inhabited the gardens known as the Prado in Montevideo, 

 and was found also in the monte, but I never happened to 

 meet with it, though I did so at Buenos Ayres. 



109. Engyptila chalcauchenia. Solitary Pigeon. 



This bird, generally known to English sportsmen as the 

 ^^ Monte Dove,^' is common along the banks of the Rio 

 Negro and (though less so) on those of the Arroyo Grande 

 and Sta. Elena Sauce where there is any monte ; but I have 

 never seen it outside the monte, where it is almost always 

 seen on the ground. I have often watched them quietly 

 picking about under the trees and bushes or on a bit of sand 

 on the coast of the river, and when flushed and settling 

 again they have alighted on the ground. On hot days they 



