Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

178 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
Reichenow states that Columba melanoptera of Molina should be
placed in the genus Zenaida. Since Zenaida zenaida has 14 rectrices
and a diastataxic wing,^* while in Metriopelia melanoptera I find
12 rectrices and a eutaxic wing (verified in two specimens), Reiche-
now's action has no basis other than that of superficial resemblance.
At Zapala, Neuquen, on December 7, 1920, I flushed a male in
open brush on the slope of a hill, and killed it as it darted away.
Near Potrerillos, Mendoza, a male was taken March 15, 1921, two
females on March 16, and a fourth specimen on March 17.
The birds were found, rather rarely, on arid hill slopes, grown
with open brush, or on the gravelly flood plains of small streams.
It is seldom that they are seen on the ground, as there they are
concealed by the rocks and brush, among which they walk with nodding
heads; they become motionless at any alarm. They flush
swiftly with a peculiar, almost metallic, rattle of the wings, that
resembles exactly the winnowing whistle of a blackbird's flight
when part of the primaries are missing in molt. They climb for
a few feet in rising and then dart swiftly away. The black under
wing surface is prominent in flight. On March 19 several Avere seen
at El Salto at an altitude of 1,800 meters, while on March 24 one
flushed in a dry wash on the flats near the base of the foothills
25 kilometers west of Tunuyan. The bird is known as paloma de
la sierra.
An adult male taken December 7 had the bill black; bare skin
before eye salmon color; iris yellowish glaucous; tarsus and toes
black. Another shot March 15 had the bill dull black; cere deep
neutral gray; iris light dull glaucous blue; eyelids light Payne's
gray; margin of lower lid, anterior canthus, and space before eye,
extending as a crescent below the lower lid slightly brighter than
salmon color; tarsus and toes dark quaker drab; nails black. Females
shot March 16 did not differ from the one last described.
COLUMBINA PICUI (Tcmminck)
CoJumha Picui Temminck, Hist. Nat. Gen. Pig. Gall., vol. 1, 1913, pp.
485, 49S. (Paraguay.)
Material of this pigeon at hand includes specimens from southern
Brazil, Paraguay, central Argentina, Mendoza, Chile, and interme-
diate localities, in which I can find no difl^erences that warrant sub-
division of the species. The status of a race in northeastern Brazil
seems somewhat uncertain, so that I have not attempted to use a trinomial
for my specimens.
This small pigeon was widely distributed throughout the region
that I visited and was recorded at many points. The species is social,
and where food is abundant decidedly gregarious. Two or three to
"Miller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 34, 1915, p. 130.