Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 7 
carcasses of sheep, before the Caranchos and Chimangos had 
made their appearance. 
At night they roost on the summits of the highest tala trees, 
arriving at certain favourite spots just before sundown, but 
never exceeding a hundred in any one locality. 
The voice, as Mr. Hudson justly remarks, is the most 
agreeable Dove-melody conceivable; and at certain seasons 
our woods seem filled with its soft murmurs. 
A few frequent our garden ; and they have twice bred there ; 
but C. picazuro is rather a timid bird, and prefers, as a rule, 
the quietness of the woods. 
Breeding-Notes.—It breeds in the months of November 
‘and beginning of December, the nest, a shallow light struc- 
ture of sticks and twigs, being placed either in the centre of 
the tree or at the extremity of a branch, at a height of gene- 
rally fifteen feet from the ground. One was constructed in a 
pollard acacia in the garden, being lodged among the thick 
young shoots, but close to the trunk of the tree. 
Six years’ researches have only yielded me as many nests of 
C. picazuro—two in 1873, and four in 1875. These six nests 
only contained one egg each; and as it happened that they 
were all more or less incubated, I came to the conclusion 
that here was a Pigeon which departed from the usual rule, 
and, instead of two eggs, laid only one. The evidence in 
support of the case is, I think, sufficiently conclusive; and I 
should now like to learn if the fact has already been recorded, 
and if this exception to the general rule is unique *. 
The six eggs average 123 x 1,%,, the largest being 132 x 1,5, 
and the smallest 132x1;4. The variation in size is very 
considerable ; and the same may be remarked of the shape, 
the shortest specimen having the greatest diameter, for 
example. © 
15. CoLUMBULA PICUI. 
This species was not uncommon in the winter of 1874, two 
or three small flocks of from two to half a dozen frequenting 
* [The Crowned Pigeons (Gowra) and several other Pigeons that have 
bred in the Zoological Society’s Gardens lay but one egg.—Epp. ] 
