1920.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 35 



359. Zenaida maculata Vieill. Spotted Dove. 



I find nothing to add to my former notes and those of 

 Hudson upon tliis exceedingly common Dove. My ex- 

 perience confirms the impression that it is the most dominant 

 factor of bird-life in our woods and gardens^ where its 

 presence is as charming as it is harmless. 1 have a distinct 

 impression that, away back in the ^sixties, as a child, I used 

 to find the nests within my reach in the woods, so general 

 and confiding was it. 



There is much variation in the size and shape of the eggs. 

 A large clutch may average 34 x 23 mm. ; a small one 

 39 X 22 mm., the general average being 31 X 22 mm. 



362. Columljula picui Temm. Picui Dove. 



Iris white ; eyes mauve-coloured ; bill black ; feet dull 

 mauve, or magenta, or pink. 



In my former paper (' Ibis/ 1880, p. 7) I chronicled this 

 species as a winter visitor, and apparently of rare occur- 

 rence — "two or three small flocks of from two to half-a- 

 dozen frequenting the garden and lucerne-field in 1874." 

 And again, in 1876, " I caught a glimpse of one in the 

 garden. ^^ Such were my sole records. 



From about 1898, however, the situation had entirely 

 changed. The summer of 1898-9 saw the species abundant 

 about the Yngleses head-station, and evidently nesting (a pair 

 of full-fledged young were observed in February); and from 

 that time onward it became resident, with a general distribu- 

 tion. My diary maintains a steady record of pairs and small 

 flocks — the latter principally in the autumn and winter — 

 of adults and young, sometimes aggregating twenty in 

 number. The woods, lucerne-fields, and gardens are the 

 favourite haunts, the last-named particularly; for this dainty 

 little Pigeon is exceedingly tame and confiding. A pair of 

 young would let me pass within a yard of them in front of 

 the dwelling-house ; and a compact group of ten on the 

 garden-path suggested the idea that I should try and throw 

 my handkerchief over them. Another, but more unusual 

 locality, has been a dry swamp not far from the woods. 



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