6 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornithology of 
business, and beat it then; so it is not surprising that they 
have had the best of the warfare. 
A species of Teal breeds in the nests of B. monachus ; and 
m one case I found an opossum domiciled in an upper 
chamber, Perroquets occupying all the others but one, in 
which a Teal was sitting on eggs. 
The breeding-season does not begin till about the Ist of 
November ; but I have taken eggs as late as the 19th of De- 
cember. Seven and eight are the largest clutches taken ; but 
I have never seen more than six of these hatched out. As 
I said before, the eggs are laid on the thickly matted flooring 
of the second or inner chamber, and without any prepara- 
tory lining. 
Thirty-one specimens give an average measurement of 
15x 2%. The largest is 18, x 3%, and the smallest 1 x #}. 
They are white in colour, but of a dull or opaque white, very 
thin-shelled, and, besides being elongated in appearance, 
have generally their greatest diameter exactly equidistant 
from the two ends; so that, in fact, they cannot be said to 
have a big and a small end. 
14. CoLUMBA PICAZURO. 
(I had supposed this to be C. maculosa, but now learn 
that C. picazuro is more likely to be our species, as it is that 
of Buenos Ayres, C. maculosa occurring near Mendoza and 
again, further south, in Patagonia.) 
Common, but only abundant in the winter months. Those 
few seen during the summer have remained to breed; but 
the majority make their appearance about the beginning of 
May, and leave at the end of September. 
In the months of June and July the “chamico” (Séra- 
monium) principally supplies this Pigeon with food, the nutri- 
tive oily seeds then falling from the ripened seed-vessels, and 
attracting flocks of from ten to a hundred of this species. At 
the end of August I have found the crop filled with leaves of 
the “ carretilla” (a trefoil), while in May and August large 
flocks frequent the offal-ground of the killing-establishment. 
Indeed I have more than once observed it at recently skinned 
