34 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornithology of [Ibis, 



situated some fifty miles to the south of us — where I was 

 given to understand it was a numerous and permanent 

 resident. Single birds, pairs, or flocks, always came from that 

 direction and returned the same way, possibly the same day. 



Until about the year 1900 tlie winters were characterised 

 by the regular appearances of visitors in search of food. In 

 1899 I chronicled various flocks, geuerally consisting of eight 

 or ten birdsj but including one of thirty, and a still larger 

 lot of about a hundred. These appeared very early in the 

 morning, coming over the neighbouring Real Viejo, and 

 returning similarly at sundown. It may be recalled that 

 another winter visitor, the Patagonian Parrot {Conu?'Us pata- 

 yonus Vieill.), presented identical habits; but whilst the 

 Parrots penetrated as far as the Rincones and found their 

 special food in that district, the Pigeons halted midway (I 

 have only once seen a bird in the Rincones), to exploit any 

 maize-fields, though I shot one individual which had its 

 crop solely distended with nine " durasnillo '^ berries, as large 

 as marbles. Since the last-mentioned year, however, the 

 occurrences have been so few as to make the species almost 

 a rarity. I note a flock of seven or eight in 1902, and 

 the remainder of my entries refer to a single bird or at 

 most a pair, at long and increasing intervals. 



Whilst I am unable to explain the curious local decrease, 

 it is a solace to read that Claude Grant (who had collected 

 five specimens at the Yngleses in 1908-10) saw " vast flocks 

 settling on the sand-bauks in the Alto Paraguay, so very 

 wary that it was impossible to approach within shot^'' ('Ibis/ 

 July 1911, p. 459). 



As formerly chronicled, I took two nests in 1873, and 

 four in 1875. I was told that two or three pairs nested in 

 the Yngleses head- station woods in 1904, but without further 

 particulars. In 1909, one egg was brought from the 

 adjacent Real Viejo woods, bearing the early date of 

 10 October. This specimen, of an elongated shape, mea- 

 sured 38x27 mm. It is to be noted that my record still 

 establishes the Picazuro Pigeon as laying only one e^g, 

 whilst Hudson gives the number as two. 



