1920.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 33 



shown some eggs undoubtedly of this species, but no details 

 were furnished me. At the beginning of December^ ten 

 years later (1885), occurred a fully- authenticated case, the 

 bird being trapped on the nest, alter previous attein})ts to 

 shoot it had failed, owing to the quickness with which it 

 dived on being disturbed. The nest was placed amidst 

 reeds in a deep cafiada and built of dry stems of the same ; 

 it was somewhat similar to a Waterhen's, but larger and 

 with a deeper hollow; it contained six much-incubated eggs, 

 covered with down. Two other nests, identical in position, 

 materials, and number of eggs, were chronicled about the 

 same time. My last and onlj remaining find was on the 

 5th of December, 1891, when I note the taking of a fine 

 clutch of twelve (now in the British Museum). These 

 " were nearly all quite fresh. The nest was situated in a 

 deep swamp, amongst the ' juncos ' ; was built of the same, 

 and resembled that of a Waterhen, though somewhat larger, 

 deeper, neater, and cup-shaped." Only a few days pre- 

 viously I had seen a similar nest, containing two eggs, about 

 a hundred yards away ; and the doubt arises as to a possible 

 connection between the two : whether the larger clutch had 

 not been supplemented by the second pair of birds, the three 

 preceding'nests having furnished only six eggs each. 



The eggs are of a broad oval shape, the shell granulated 

 in texture, without gloss, and of a uniform whitish-cream 

 colour. They measure from 68 to 73 mm. in length, and 

 from 48 to 54 mm. in breadth. 



» 



357. Coluniba picazuro Temra. Picazuro Pigeon. 



Iris orange; bill pale blue; feet magenta. 



It is fortunate that in my previous paper (' Ibis,^ 1880, 

 p. 6) I dealt at some length with the habits and customs 

 of this handsome pigeon in our locality; for, to judge from 

 my diary, it is undoubtedly becoming a scarcer visitor. 

 Formerly, I never actually considered the species as resi- 

 dent on the Yngleses in spite of a few nesting-pairs. 1 had 

 always reason to believe that the temporary occurrences 

 originated from the Montes Grandes — the large woods 



SER. XI. VOL. II. D 



